


To return

by Farraway



Series: Hellspawn [3]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Gen, Multi, Soul Bond, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-03-21 13:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3693437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Farraway/pseuds/Farraway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. Even if it becomes slightly problematic. </p><p>(...)</p><p>( Jesus, he wasn't ogling Yukio just now, was he? )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Bigger hand of the clock jumped over neatly carved in number six thus was closely followed by loud sniffing that resonated in the air. In a large kitchen situated in Old Male Dormitory, Rin sat by the table – his face flushed, streams of tears flowing down his face – and read one of his favourite mangas or rather the latest volume that was just published.

Anyone from the outside would think it to be freakishly strange to see a soon-to-be-grown-ass-man wailing over such trifle thing like a manga, however if the said person knew black-haired male enough then it wouldn't be anything surprising to find him in a such state.

However in all honesty, Okumura Rin could be as well named Mr. Over-sensitive and it wouldn't be too far from truth.

As for the moment he clutched half-soaked volume a bit more, shaking his head drastically.

"NO! NO-O-O! IT CAN'T END LIKE THAT!" he deadpanned, finally closing his magazine and leaving it on the table. After taking few calming breaths he slowly sighed ( _for the last time_ ) as if in defeat – his shoulders slumped - and chuckled a bit darkly, at the same time lazily wiping his face with his sleeve. "I thought it was supposed to be a happy end!" he remarked, somehow pouting while glancing at innocent book. "But it wasn't happy at all" he added grumpily and leaned into his chair. "In the end they parted their ways... Went living their own dreams..."

Rin frowned at his own words, all feelings were so confusing. It was a mere book – with nice pictures and all – but even though, somehow it etched itself in his heart, his emotions. As if he didn't have enough problems of his own, right?

When his eye caught a glimpse of a clock, he exhaled – this time his thoughts drifting towards the person he was so confused about, Yukio. So far, two days and no difference in him. It was alarming to see his brother fine, _breathing_ but completely still and asleep.

 _Like a sleeping beauty_ , Mephisto told him over the mobile just yesterday. Upon reminding himself about that detail, Rin's eyebrow twitched nervously. Because like seriously? Did Mephisto lived to get under his skin and feed him his cryptic crap every day?

_Maybe a kiss would wake the beauty..._

Like in a fairytale? Goddamn, Rin suddenly shivered when found his eyes snapping open ( _when did he closed them in the first place?_ ) and whimpered inwardly because of his own thoughts. Straightening in his chair, he shook his messy head, eyes dead-on window.

He was such a mess, he felt it in his bones. Yet he couldn't do anything about it, mainly because he never had to. There was always Yukio, his younger brother that would come over – pat a seat next to him – and do the thing – fix him up, mentally and physically. It was one of the thing that family do regardless the situation, it was that speck of love he never wanted to lose. The speck of love he never _believed_ _would_ actually _disappear_ – but it did and he crumbled.

Now pieces of him were everywhere, scattered – but it wasn't too late, there was still time to stick them all back together. Even though... he would be flawed forever, never really the same. But on the other hand, who would? Things that happen change people, and Rin was one of the many victims of the fate.

" _Rin! Rin!_ "

Rin jumped in his seat hearing a well-known sound of Kuro's speech. However he glared towards the two-tailed cat, and grumbled. "What is it?"

Kuro - as always - completely ignored Rin's cold shoulder and jumped on a table, situating himself next to openly-left-behind volume. " _What are we having for dinner today?_ " he asked, smiling in his own way.

At that Rin could only sigh. There were many things going in Kuro's head but mostly it was all about food, not that he minded. "Uh... I dunno. What would you want?" he asked his familiar and tried to sniff not-to-loudly but of course Kuro must've took a notice of it.

" _Rin..._ " started cat, his head cocking to the side in sympathy. " _You were crying, why?_ "

Rin shrugged it off, brushing hand through air. "Nothing, really. Don't worry."

" _But Rin..._ "

"Kuro, no."

" _Rin?_ "

"Just let it go."

Cat sith however didn't even pretend to listen to his master, but pressed on. " _It's Yukio, isn't it?_ "

At that Rin jumped violently from his chair which resulted in toppling it over. One could easily spot that he wasn't in a mood for persistent little cats, especially those that were in cahoots with one particular demon. Yes, because as if it wasn't enough that Mephisto was constantly persuading him into believing that he's being a brocon, then there was Kuro – who could pull his leg in a most innocent way possible and it never ended good.

"Why everything I do must be related to Yukio? Can't a man shed a tear in peace?!"

" _Rin! Everything you do is about Yukio!_ " argued back black cat, his tails flipping back-and-forth. " _I think that master Mephisto is right, you need to kiss Yukio so he will wake up!_ "

"Wh-whAT?!"

Two steps back and Rin almost assimilated with fridge. He was sweating profoundly, his cheeks getting flushed, and he couldn't bear to hear about _that_ again! It was as if Mephisto send Kuro to keep a tab on him without his constant prying.

"KURO!" he bit off, his hands balled. It was enough of messing around as it was, he had enough. "We talked about it before! I won't do it, it's not right!"

Kuro only meowed back in confusion. " _But why Rin? Don't you want Yukio to wake up? Master Mephisto said that if you kissed him, then he would wake!_ "

Rin shook his head angrily but then remembered he couldn't be angry at his own cat, it wasn't Kuro's fault that Mephisto was feeding them all crap entire time. So thinking things trough, he inhaled-and-exhaled and actually managed to pout, he was being too fed-up with everything.

He brushed his hair loosely and looked at his familiar. "Mephisto was telling you an old fairytale, Kuro. In real world things like that doesn't work..." he remarked and almost bit on his tongue when Kuro piped in with an innocent, " _But if it worked you'd do it, don't you Rin?_ "

Trying to end that topic once and for all, he only grumbled inaudibly in reply, turning his back on cat and opened fridge.

"Say Kuro, do you want tuna? I think I have some leftovers..."

Yep, talk about smooth change of topics.

* * *

As the time flew, Rin started to prepare _misoshiru_ for dinner with Ukobach's help. When he was deeply concentrated over perfecting his dish, unbeknownst to him two floors above, Yukio started to squirm in his bed.

Younger Okumura had his eyes closed tightly and his mouth was twisted as if in pain but in reality it were his latest memories he owned that finally kept coming back to him. After another painful memory hit the spot in his soul, his palms twisted the sheet between fingers.

Rin leaned over the pot with his soup and smiled, sniffing. The smell was perfect, taste wasn't any worse. It looked that his dinner was almost ready to go, he just needed last few sips to be sure. He reached with a spoon towards the pot when a thought crossed his mind, or rather a faint reminder of a pain he felt two days ago.

With a soup on a spoon, he stopped. Blinking hazily, he moved his left hand – all of his fingers – but when it came to his pinky, he found himself frozen to the spot. He felt it, the same reaction he had before, when Yukio burst out his prison. And now, off all times it came back.

The tug, around his little finger.

"RIIIIIIIIIIIN!"

Like a far away echo, he almost believed he heard Yukio screaming his name. Eyes open wide, mouth agape, the tug came back and it wanted him to go, right now.

"Ukobach, take over" he said, looking over his shoulder and stepping from the pot. The cook demon instantly jumped into preparing the soup but cat sith also jumped.

" _Rin, where are you going?_ " Kuro asked, curiously. It wasn't like Rin to step from the oven.

Rin – kind of crookedly – smiled at his familiar. "Ah, I need go to the toilet. I'll be right back, keep an eye on Ukobach so he won't add any more _niboshi_ , okay?"

Kuro nodded in acknowledgement. " _Okay_."

With that Rin left the kitchen and slowly made his way towards his room, the same room where Yukio slept for the past two days. When he was walking he suddenly remembered the tug. It was exactly like the times when he'd walk next to Mephisto, he felt it but it was so far away and he couldn't really grasp it. And now was the same, deeply down there he knew it existed but didn't think about it, because it was a thing so fleeting he never really could try to fully grasp it.

And then there was the time when he felt it, really felt it for what it was. The tug – no, not tug per see, more like emotions, all kind of emotions – was painful, but there was also strange note of pleasure underneath it – adrenalin rush, almost intoxication from nibbling on it – because it was all he managed to do right then.

Two days ago, the rush of this strange mix of pleasure and pain was too sudden for him to do anything but act almost desperately and go with the flow. The dame between him and Yukio was wide open, it was the most scaring but alas interesting thing that ever happened. All in all the fact stand that Rin managed to sample what was beyond the edge, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to feel it again.

Now, as he rounded around corner – he found that his ears picked upon a sound he thought he'd never hear again. Because it clearly sounded like a Yukio to him, and he was going through his closet... and desk... and wardrobe... and...

"RIIIIN!"

Blinking dumbly, he shuddered. Yukio was probably positively livid! Suddenly a thought about visiting him didn't look too promising. However, he _promised_ himself that he'll act as he should and so he stepped ahead to have a nice face-to-face talk with Yukio.

Each step felt as his heart tried to jump from his chest and his sweaty hands too didn't help the matter. When he halted before doors however, shuffling inside stopped, it was just Yukio waiting for him to barge in.

With a sigh he pressed the doorknob and walked into a war-zone.

His jaw crumbled to the floor and his eyes practically out-socketed itself from the situation he found before him. Well, as it happened the room looked as if at least one tornado went over and knocked everything outta it's place. But beside sheets, clothes, pens, notebooks and mangas that were scattered over entire place stood Yukio – his back stiff, but tense as hell.

And he was leaning over his desk or rather - as Rin spotted with a silent inner scream - his non-existent secret glasses stash.

Well, fuck. He was a dead man walking.

Tense seconds passed and neither of them even moved an inch, Rin too terrified of Yukio's wrath and Yukio... Well he started to shake, slowly.

"If this is some kind of a joke, it's not funny." Yukio was first to finally crush the silence, straightening and sighing. Then he turned around and looked in a place - he believed - stood Rin. "I might not understand why you keep on touching my glasses, nii-san. You know I..."

He paused and his eyes scrambled over the room, shivers were gone but something akin to fear showed upon his cheek. Standing still, Rin finally darted inside the war-zone and smiled - cheering inwardly. His eyes took in all length of his brother and he was happy to know he's actually okay. It was over, his worrying was over.

"Yukio."

Younger Okumura once again looked in a place were supposedly was Rin, however seeing as he wasn't moving a muscle he couldn't do anything more than growl. "It is not funny. I wake up to no glasses, no books, not even one single school uniform. What the hell is going on?"

At that Rin squirmed a bit, but just a bit. "I'm sorry Yukio, I'll explain everything... Just give me a minute!"

Yukio sighed and brushed his sore eyes, he really needed his glasses and asap. Not only he was blind but his eyes were itching already. However knowing Rin, he probably put them somewhere and forgot where. "Nii-san-" he started but didn't really know what to say so he stopped himself. "Just hurry" he agreed woefully, sliding his feet over the floor to not step on something funny and split open his head. When he sat on a bed, he followed with his eyes Rin but couldn't see much.

Older Okumura hurried around the room, basically sweeping with his feet whatever was on the floor so his brother wouldn't accidentally kill himself. On his mind was the only one thing right now, the thing Yukio needed and the one thing he actually kept.

When Yukio died and he had his small life crisis he _did_ throw everything out. Well all but _one thing_ , that stupid pair of glasses they broke almost two years before. Of course Yukio wouldn't keep them and actually threw them away but he sneaked them over and kept them. It was such ironic thing that he'd give them back to him after everything they went through.

Yes, that pair of glasses was special. It held heart, memories of his brother when Yukio was gone but now the time has come for it's owner to have them back.

Smoothly, with a hard grip Rin took the box down and opened it. Inside rested glasses, repaired and ready to use. Not thinking twice he swept them over and stepped to his brother - who was watching him closely. Leaning slowly he put the glasses over Yukio's nose, looking expectantly at the other. Yukio on the other hand finally felt uneasiness wear off when his vision cleared and he could see Rin's face, up close. Almost instantly he pushed the glasses upwards.

"How is it?" asked Rin, leaning back and watching Yukio when he glanced around their room.

"Uh... It's fine..." he answered, taking in a disaster he made. He pushed his glasses once more and this time he wanted answers. "So, I'm listening."

Exhaling deeply, Rin steeled himself upon fast incoming surge of latest memories. "All right, I believe I owe you an explanation..." he stated, slouching on his own bed. He felt Yukio's imploring eyes on his face but he couldn't really look at him. Somehow all his courage and happiness shattered, right now. "Ask then" he deadpanned, his hands balled together. He figured it's going to be easier for both of them if Yukio would ask.

Yukio didn't waste a second. "What happened to all my stuff? My books, my uniforms, my glasses... Nothing is here, why?"

He smiled crookedly, trying to laugh the question off but upon seeing Yukio's unholy glare, he stopped. "Well... I threw it away-"

"Why?"

Well, there was going nothing. It was the exact question he didn't want to answer but needed anyway. So with a hollow face, he stared back into Yukio's eyes. "Because you were dead."


	2. Chapter 2

To-day was supposed to be such a great day, oh that it was and Okumura Rin was more than hyped when it finally came to be. Yet after preparations were done with Mephisto showed up and needed to break that beautiful illusion of peacefulness with his overwhelming persona. Yes, that was that. It was all Mephisto's fault, nobody else's.

Unfortunately (for Rin) the fact stands that he actually agreed with Mephisto upon to-day's events.

Not that he was prepared for pure moe Yukatas that were provided for him and Yukio to wear but he should be more than wary of Mephisto's fashion tastes. Unfortunately seeing as he and Yukio were both staring warily at their clothes he could only gulp fearfully and glance from a corner of his eyes at his twin that stood not that far away from him with his own Yukata clutched in hands, keeping it at bay as if it could accidentally round onto him and kill him.

The style-less kimonos were horrible.

"There's no way I'm wearing it" he concluded, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "It's completely tasteless, and even worse it's PINK."

Yukio took a moment to sigh then turned towards him with a blank face. His Yukata wasn't as bad as his was, being brown and beige. Still, strange moe anime characters that were embroidered into it somehow looked way too misplaced. "I told you about it before, nii-san" he finally spoke, his calm voice strong as ever. "We could've waited for our next birthday. It's not that much of a loss for me to miss one birthday."

Even though Yukio's reasoning was right, he couldn't help but to disagree. Now fully rounding at his twin, he smiled devilishly because he had his own reasons too. "Maybe you're right, don't get me wrong here Yukio but I couldn't miss such occasion to get my baking skills to use." Of course Yukio opened his mouth to respond but he cut him off first. "Yeah I know I've baked a cake before – for Izumo – but today is special. Listen, I've spend our last birthday alone in here and I'll die first before I'll not celebrate your showing up, healthy and snarky as ever."

At that Yukio pushed his glassed upwards. "I'm not snarky. Snarky isn't even a word."

He laughed at his twin's response. "Yeah, f'course" he countered, once again looking at his own Yukata and this time pouting. "Some days I _know_ he loves to see me squirming with discomfort" he added, sighing and mentally preparing himself to wear it. Just as he moved towards his wardrobe he felt a tug and stopped, looking quizzically over his shoulder.

Yukio stood steadily and shook his head at him, pulling pink material over.

"Huh?" he blinked, puzzled over his twins motions. "What are ya doing, four-eyes?" he asked but as a answer he got another tug on his kimono. "What—Yukio?"

Yukio sighed sheepishly, as if slightly embarrassed about something. "If you don't want to wear it that much, then we're doing to swap" he said slowly but when his eyes dragged over pink material he actually shivered in discomfort. "It's the least thing I can do for you... After everything that happened."

He blinked and then huge grin spread over his features. "You're sure about this?"

Yukio nodded but winced when Rin practically showed his pink Yukata into his outstretched hands and tore the other away.

"Thanks bro" said Rin, smiling happily. His tail kept on sweeping the floor nonchalantly. However when he looked over Yukio, evil twinkle shone in his eye. "I cannot wait the look on his stupid face when he realises that you're the one wearing it."

At that Yukio sweatdropped a little. He visibly twitched but was smiling nonetheless. "A-are you saying that you're using me to get back at Pheles-san, nii-san?"

This time Rin's dark chuckle filled the small room they shared. "Always, dear brother of mine, always."

* * *

"D-do we really need to watch this?" mumbled Rin, squirming on his knees.

"It was your idea to even start with" mumbled back Yukio, who unlike himself sat calmly, his back straight, knees unwavering.

"It's fucking terrible..." he said, squirmed some more in place and found out that blood circulation from his lower body was practically cut off, upon that he almost cried.

"Stop, nii-san, ceremony is not over yet" finally snapped under breath Yukio, opening one eye and glaring at his older sibling.

Rin on the other hand didn't give a shit about tea ceremony which was presently done by Mephisto himself in concentration. "He never spoke a word about fricken' tea ceremony, that bastard."

Yukio upon hearing that closed his eye and sighed tiredly. "Really now, I don't think it was Pheles-san that would actually bring the idea of my omissed birthday up."

"Oh really? Well, surprise, spotty four-eyes! It was his idea, if not for him we wouldn't be sitting here and waiting for our lower bodies to fall off."

Yukio snapped open his eyes and glared at his brother, who squirmed even more on his knees. He clearly wasn't comfortable and if not for seriousness of tea ceremony it'd be funny. But it wasn't, not now. However the more Yukio stared at his brother the more he could say that he was on the edge, literally. Give or take few more minutes and Rin would burst like a balloon.

Just as Rin couldn't hold his discomfort in any more, Mephisto finished the ceremony and with a bright smile on his face turned towards twins. Looking over them, he seemed very pleased of the reason only he knew about. In a one smooth move he poured tea into cups and leaned in some.

"It's so good to see you boys all well!" he said cheerfully, noticing twitching tail of Rin's. "I also feel honoured to be a part of this unorthodox ' _welcome back_ ' party!"

Yukio nodded pleasantly. "Thank you, Pheles-san. However like I said before, you didn't have to organize anything really. I'm greatly pleased that you did but next time I'd appreciate it if you'd not prepare anything of sorts. I'm not much of a party person."

Mephisto shrugged the comment off with a wave of his hand. "Of course, Okumura-sensei is humble as always" he said, bringing forth two cups of tea. When neither of twins moved though, he let them rest before kneeling boys. "I'm happy to see everything went back to normal" he added, looking over both boys. Well, they seemed fine, as if nothing happened in the first place.

In that moment Rin snapped, his legs were numb enough already and he clearly didn't need any more of Mephisto's speeches. "Can we start already? I've lost feeling in my legs ages ago, clown!"

With a smirk, Mephisto only chuckled. "I'm sorry for trying to have a heart-warming tea ceremony for my guests."

The comment seemed to touch a nerve as Rin – stupidly – tried to stand up, only to falter a second later. "We're not your guests, stupid fluff-clown. It's our place, isn't iiiiitt-WHAAAAA!"

"Nii-saaaaaan!"

In a lightly-coloured tea room a loud thump sounded as Rin bodily smacked down into floor. However his poor body coordination ended with him falling straight onto his unsuspecting twin that was sprawled on the floor underneath him.

In a second, time stood still. There was nothing that could break the silence that followed.

Nothing but, "Nii-san..."

Gulping, Rin opened his eyes which somehow closed themselves in his short flight. He however wasn't sure if it was good idea to do so, mainly because his eyes ended looking at part of Yukio's neck. At first their situation wasn't that bad, but when he subconsciously travelled with his irises down that neck and trailer lower over now unobstructed parts of fine looking chest he knew everything went downwards.

Literally.

"You're... heavy..."

Winded words spilling of Yukio's lips unfortunately weren't enough to break him from his dazzled mind. The milky white chest rose up and down steadily with each breath, a very specific smell seemed to be oozing from his twins body as well, and Rin in the end didn't know what made him do what he did. Because in his fogged state of mind, he felt himself slowly raise above his twin but only as much as to see his face.

His way too-cute face with glasses askew and flushed cheeks.

"Can... you? Move..?"

Yukio was speaking, his lips moving but he haven't heard a word he said. It was as if entire world went on mute for him. The strangest fact was that he actually saw a tiny red string attached to his pinky finger of his left palm which right now – held one of Yukio's wrists pinned to the floor. Glancing closer over it he trailed the red string where it met with Yukio's own palm, where it rested around his small finger. The thread that was between them seemed so fragile and thin as if it was meant to break any time now. Before he could think more about it, his senses were once again bombarded with the strange scent his brother was emanating and he almost lost himself in it.

It was addicting, intoxicating, _perfect_. Adding to it a warm body that lied underneath him, he found his mouth watering at simple – completely wicked – thought of maybe licking the visible skin he kept staring at.

Just as that thought ended so did the strange charm Yukio put him under and he found out that his brother's face was way too close for his comfort. He never even had a chance to stop Mephisto from snapping a photo with a bold chuckle.

"Okumura-kun I think you might be crushing (on) your brother."

Only when he remembered Mephisto, Rin's self-awareness kicked in and he practically jumped off his twin, that still lied on the floor – also seemingly dazed. Not waiting a second he turned at Mephisto.

"What are you thinking you're doing?" he snapped, his face reddening in a extremely-fast pace. "Delete it!"

But Mephisto had other ideas though, as he rounded back onto cherry-faced Okumura. "No, it's a memory now. I think I will keep it safe and sound."

Shivering with anger, Rin knew all too well of that safe-keeping crap. "Bullshit."

"Now, now" Mephisto chuckled and then narrowed his slanted eyes. "You can get a copy if you want. And I believe you'd be more than happy to have it..."

Rin growled, his fists going white when Yukio cut into the fight. "Nii-san please, it's nothing – just a stupid photo. So could you kindly calm down and sit?" Upon catching Rin's eyes he sighed, sitting himself and adjusting his Yukata – which somehow slipped from his shoulder. "It's all fine. I don't mind. It wouldn't be the first photo like that..."

At that Rin stared at his brother, his mind mulling over the commentary. "What- what do you mean, four-eyes?"

It was again Yukio's time to cough into his hand and hide under his glasses. "I think Pheles-san might have a few photographs of me in a- very compromising situations. So as I said it's nothing I haven't met with before."

It took Rin over sixty seconds to collect his jaw from the floor and less than fifteen for Mephisto to laugh.

"Why- you never said anything about this pervert?!" roared Rin towards his brother. He was livid. "How long-"

"Nii-san" barked back Yukio, pushing his glasses up. "Can we actually get to the point of this small tête-a-tête? I believe we wasted a lot of Pheles-san's free time already."

There wasn't arguing about that point and so Rin agreed, still red-faced and fuming. "All right. I'm going to bring the cake..."

As the words slipped his lips, he moved towards doors but was harshly interrupted by Mephisto who was in a very good mood.

"Ne, Rin-kun, I'll get it" he said and with his magical umbrella puffed the cake into the room. Both twins upon that blinked, amazed. "Okay then boys, now that all pleasantries were exchanged I think we can actually get to the point" he added, his face still smirking but eyes following closely after Rin.

"Finally!" groaned Rin, going back on his place and slumping comfortably. "I knew there must've been a point in all of this!"

At that Mephisto chuckled again. "Of course there is. So... Okumura-sensei, how are you feeling?" he asked, staring sombrely at youngest Okumura.

Yukio seemed to be crestfallen at such question but answered nonetheless. "I'm fine."

"Are you, really?" prodded Mephisto, his eyes wandering over twin. "I believe you misunderstood my question here. I am not asking about your health but about the demon that's hiding within..."

That piqued Rin's interest as well, as he listened closely what his twin had to say. He reached for a slice of the cake and bit into it, melting at the taste.

"What do you want me to say, Pheles-san?" answered after awhile Yukio, his shoulders tense. "All my life I was taught to destroy demons and now... now I am a demon myself."

Mephisto nodded. "I understand that you're in a very unorthodox situation. However, to provide safety for all of us, demons and humans alike, I need you to accept the fact that you're one of us now." Yukio's face leaned down, into hiding. "The main reason why I'm telling you that is because of the latest events that almost put an end to the entire Assiah. I believe you'll understand, what I choose to do."

Upon those words Yukio's face popped up and Rin stopped munching his cake with a spoon in his mouth.

"Both of you still need to learn a lot about being half-demons and what it means to be one..." before Yukio could cut in with his five cents, he silenced him with a friendly glare. "Please, don't tell me that you've read it all about in books, learned in school, because believe me – you didn't. It's completely different when you're demon than what they all teach you."

"Yea, but isn't it _yours_ Academy that teaches us the _wrong_ stuff then?" piped in Rin, once again munching his cake.

"Higher politics are pulling the strings. Now, getting back on track. As Okumura-sensei is officially dead to the world I will be able to grant him some _off_ time if you want to call it that, to learn to accept and use his demonic side. No, this is a must, Okumura-sensei, we cannot let a situation like the one over _Blue Lake_ happen again" he paused and then smirked devilishly. "That's why I came to this" he said and stretched his arms around in a welcoming motion. "This is your mission, Okumura-sensei. I want you to accept the fact that you're a demon, I want you to learn to use that side of yours, I want you to listen to new Okumura-sensei" he concluded, pointing towards Rin – who froze with a spoon mid-air and blinked at them. "For next couple months, Rin-kun is going to teach you how to tap into your demonic side without too-strong after-effects which also will be a good trial for him."

"Pheles-san..." broke in Yukio, who was sweatdropping heavily by now. "I don't think it's a good idea..."

"Nonsense!" barked Mephisto, laughing. "From today on, I'll put this building into different dimension, where you'll be freely able to learn – without worrying about hurting anyone but yourselves. I'll even make sub-dimension on the first floor, so it'd imitate open world where you'll be able to do whatever you'll want to. Maybe even burn with blue fire..."

Rin, who finished his third piece of cake, sighed and then lazily reached for a tea – which was few notches colder than it should and grimaced when bitter taste met his senses. "So basically you want to close us both together in here for god-knows-how-long for training." Mephisto nodded and then smirked when he noticed that Yukio tasted his own cup of tea. "How are we gonna get food then?"

At that Mephisto barked with laughter. From all the questions he could ask, he asked this one. "Ukobach will keep a tab on the fridge as he can go to and thru dimensions easily."

Rin nodded, somehow sleepily. "All right. I can do that, I can help Yukio."

"Nii-san..." he mumbled back, glancing at him. "Do you even have any idea how to teach anyone?"

Upon that Rin laughed and leaned down, lying on the floor. His blue eyes however slid over to the place his twin was sitting, in a pink Yukata. "No."

"I thought so..." sighed Yukio, his fingers caressing bridge of his nose. "Then, to conclude today" he started, glancing at Mephisto – who was very interested in Rin's lying form. "Me and nii-san are going to be held prisoners in this building for... how long?"

"As long as it's possible" answered immediately Mephisto. "However I think we'll have close the gap at two months, as Rin-kun needs to get back into his last school year."

At that Rin actually jumped, remembering something. "Good point, clown. What do I tell everybody when I'll be gone for two months?"

Mephisto shrugged it off. "It's been taken care off already. You're gone to private exorcist training camp."

"Huh?" Rin blinked and then growled. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that you're one of the best future exorcists and you wanted to get even better."

"Yukio? Does something like that even exists?"

Yukio frowned and then shook his head. "Not that I am aware off."

"Well, yes, whatever boys. It's been taken care off and that's it" concluded Mephisto, looking over both twins. His smirk went even wider when he realised that they actually swapped their Yukatas. "Okumura-sensei, I've never really thought you're the type that likes pink."

Yukio's nose went slightly pink but he cleared his throat. "Well... No, I don't like pink. Not really."

"You look positively moe in it though!"

At that Yukio's eyebrow twitched nervously. "Uh, thank you I suppose?"

"Hey, clown! Where did ya get this ugly-ass Yukatas anyway?" piped in Rin, smirking in silent victory.

Mephisto however only chuckled. "It's a good thing that you're wearing the same size now, isn't it?"

Rin's smile faltered faster than light. "What's that supposed to mean?!" he barked, baring his teeth.

"Only tiny fact that you're the same height that your brother is. It's been a long, long time since you seen eye-to-eye with him, no?"

"ARGH!"

"But don't worry, once the lost year catches up to him, you'll need ladder again."


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

" _It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."  
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince._

* * *

How did this happen? How in the never-ending world did he found yet another obsession to maul over in his thick skull, _how_? The question persisted in his mind, while he watched from a corner of his eyes his younger twin.

With a silent groan, Rin gritted his teeth in irritation as he happened to do a lot lately. Really, it was a miracle that his teeth didn't break and fall out with the consistency in which he actually repeated such action.

Well, speaking the truth only he was to blame for his tiny fascination because if not of his - _own_!- genius idea, he wouldn't ever had such problem in the first place. Yet he had and quite interesting one at that. Because no matter where Yukio made his appearance, his eyes automatically followed him – his every move and _swept of his long brown tail_ which was very much alike his but at the same time so different.

Gulping noncomically, he felt a sweat on his forehead and swept it off with back of his hand. Unfortunately that didn't help him much as his irises almost instantly gazed back at his silently sitting twin; who's been leaning over borrowed school notes.

Yukio's posture didn't change much in the past few days - _not even a week yet_ \- and he still looked like some sandwich would do him good, but after their " _great"_ tea ceremony with Mephisto he finally gathered all the courage he had and stepped up to the game as Okumura-sensei.

Not that the day after found both of them sprawled next to each other under _kotatsu_ , half-disrobed but he didn't really know how did that happen. It was probably Mephisto's stupid idea to screw with them to entertain himself, that sick moe-bastard.

Ekhm.

Going back to the topic at hand, the day after – when both of them came to their senses and Yukio even dared to slightly blush (which was _very_ rare) over their sleeping arrangement – he figured it was his chance to show Yukio that he is the older brother and that he _is_ capable of taking care of another person.

However even now he could clearly see in his mind's eye Yukio's sceptic facial expression when he faced him with his first exercise in his demons training which was – as he figured, baby steps were the best for Yukio – showing his weakness, his tail.

And so in the end, after long half-assed explanation and Yukio's helpless shake of head, he acknowledged his first exercise with a mournful quirk of his lips. So, after all that – he was now caught up with this new fascination of his which was observing Yukio and his long tail. Unlike his own tail, that kept on swaying and swashing and curling and doing things over and over again – which he didn't intend to do, _mostly_ – Yukio's was representing the complete opposite, and that's what he found the most interesting in it.

Briefly he thought about scrambling from his place and pulling on his twins tail but he resigned from that idea upon realising the consequences of those actions he'd need to bare with afterwards.

Still, it didn't simmer an ounce of the fire that he was burning with in _curiosity_ towards his brother's tail. That's how he found himself lying back-on-bed, hands curled around one of his old mangas but constantly glancing at his twin's profile.

He felt so irritated that he felt like going to sleep and never getting up. At first there was his fascination with Yukio's disappearance, then his imprisoning and now... Now not only he thought ( _briefly_!) that he was cute but found out that he actually managed to spot the bond they shared ( _whatever bond it was_ ) and more often he'd catch a whiff of that strange yet hypnotizing scent which must've been oozing off Yukio every time he passed by.

All in all, his mind and body where conspiring against him, making him feel something strange – something he shouldn't even thought about feeling, not to mention he kind of relished in it – almost always following Yukio. Was he becoming overprotective? Well, shit. It'd happen one way or another, he wasn't going to lose Yukio any time soon, damned the consequences.

"How long are you going to stare at me, nii-san? You're kind of distracting me, crumbling your manga pages like that."

Rin's heart stopped for a second, before it pumped twice as fast. He was just so lost in his thoughts he didn't realise he was staring at that one precise point on Yukio's body, slightly above his behind. His ears and cheeks flared bright red, not even really knowing why and he jumped to his feet, throwing manga onto bed, his tail flailing in eights.

"H-how's your training Yukio?" he managed – or rather spluttered – trying hard to conceal his burning face, good thing that he turned his back on his twin. "Feeling good with your tail free like this, ain't?"

There was a moment of silence and then a long sigh.

"What's the purpose of this exercise again?" asked Yukio, his voice somehow agitated. Rin would bet he was scowling silently at him right now. "Because I don't really need it. I have all the control over it unlike certain person that don't."

Now that stung and Rin wasn't going to let it slip by. "It's not about control" he fumed, rounding at his sitting twin – whose tail swapped softly the ground once, twice in smooth moves. "It's about feeling, that's what I want you to learn."

Upon those words Yukio glanced back at him, his eyes slowly trailing down his persona until they stopped at his overly-moving tail. "Really."

"W-well..." he gulped, Yukio kept staring at his tail. "Yes."

"And what should I be feeling then, nii-san?"

Yukio's tail stopped still. Rin hadn't any idea what to say to that 'cause what was the real purpose of this stupid exercise. He didn't thought this through at all.

"Because I keep on coming into conclusion that you wanted me to let it free just to feed up your own curiosity. Well, I know it's difficult to think that I'd become something like... _this_ , but I did. I did (~ _it for you_ ) and there's no turning back for me. If you wanted to make sure I am a demon you could just have asked me, no reason to pulling the tails out so to speak."

In his short monologue Yukio hid face behind his glasses, only two spots staring back at Rin. He on the other hand was surprised but didn't know if in a good-meaning of that word. Yukio still seemed to have problems in accepting himself as for who he was – or rather _what_ he was and he knew that feeling all too well. Years back when it happened to him, he was alone, didn't know anybody who could help him find himself, he haven't got a mentor nor anybody who was in the same boat as he was.

Now, to the irony of the entire world - he, Okumura Rin could help his own twin in coming to peace with a thought that he's not human anymore.

Yukio must've been confused. Not really a human but not a demon either. Even though they had demonic blood in their veins, there was still that gray zone in where both of them belonged in from the day of their awakenings. Putting once again his big-brother shoes on, Rin smiled and stepped closer to his twin, then without any warning he smacked his head upside-down.

"Stop whining, Yukio" he said, keeping his voice as-professional as he could. "You grew out of it ten years ago. So yeah, we're not human _nor_ demon but we're still _us_ " he added and then leaned over his brother's prone form. Yukio didn't put his head up, completely submissing to his new teacher and brother nonetheless and Rin frowned upon Yukio's reaction. That strange scent once again filled the air; smell of wood and honey as strange as it was. "We can't change what we've became but we still can choose what we want to be in the future. Nobody's going to take that from us, eh? So cheer up!" he spoke and put hands over Yukio's shoulders and only upon that motion his twin responded with finally looking upwards.

The face he had, Rin couldn't laugh but Yukio's face was twisted between furry, sadness, gratefulness and... something he never saw before, something that pierced him through. Yukio's eyes were sharp and staring at his own motionlessly, as if calculating something. Then that second was over and Yukio blinked, face turning and pushing his glasses up.

"Ne, so stop being such worrywart. What will happen, will happen" he said with a happy note to his voice. He continued to pat Yukio's shoulders and then straightened back, proudly and happily that the strange dark aura around Yukio disappeared. "Just trust me, Yukio. All will be fine in time, you'll see."

Yukio actually groaned silently and shook his head slightly. "How can you be so sure? You've seen... you've... I couldn't control him. It happened twice now, who knows what'll happen the next time he shows up. The next time I might hurt you..."

Rin frowned towards his brother's head. It was strange to look at him from above. In that moment he realised that it was really happening, he was the one that was helping and not the other way around. How the tables have turned, even if just for awhile.

"Next time..." he started and then paused, thinking something through. "Next time... You will not let him get a grip on you" he ended, smiling softly. He wanted to believe in his own words, he really did. "Don't you think that your possession might've been connected to the fact that you're not ready to accept the fact that you're a half-demon? I think it might just be it! Think about it Yukio..." he explained, suddenly feeling the rush of adrenaline about cracking one of many mysteries. "Twice. You've been possessed by him twice! The first time it happened I've been unconscious so why not take me instead?"

Now it was time for Yukio to frown. "He said I've been ready before you. It means..."

"It means nothing!" suddenly jerked in Rin, he didn't want anymore of this crap. "It means that you've been scared shitless about becoming true demon. Shura told me about the tests you've been taking before all of that shit hit the fan." Yukio's head jerked upwards, clearly shocked and even maybe slightly terrified that his secret was out in the open. "I know about it, I don't really blame you though. I'd probably do the same thing... My point is, Yukio you're not alone and you don't have to be scared of what you've became. I'm here with you, we're in the same boat."

"Nii-san..."

He smiled at his twin and mustered all his courage to ruffle Yukio's hair. "It's okay to try to fight it but in the end everything would be easier if you didn't. Don't do the same mistakes I did, I've almost let my demon side take over me more than once, I've even almost burned Shiemi."

"There's just one problem. I am not _you_."

Rin gasped taken aghast. "Of course you're not. I was just giving you an example, didn't I?" he continued, putting his hands on hips, stern look over his face. Yukio on the other hand tried to calm his wild hair but after few tries stopped and pushed his glasses up instead. "You wanted an explanation why I want you to walk around with your tail out and so there is my answer; I want you to show your emotions through it Yukio, it might help in uniting the human and demon that's inside you."

Yukio harrumphed under his nose and his eyebrow twitched. Was he being nervous now of the all times? "In truth, I don't- I don't know how?"

"Huh?" Rin blinked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean? Just let it do whatever it wants, look at me!" he added and motioned towards his tail which - _to their surprise_ \- was nowhere to be seen. Only after closer look they realised that Rin's tail somehow waved it's way with Yukio's brown one. There was a long, stretching minute of a pregnant silence after that discovery and two pairs of eyes staring at the strange motions both tails seemed to be doing. "Umm, I didn't even know..."

"Well" Yukio coughed into his fist, breaking the charm of their intertwined tails. "There goes your first lesson, Okumura-sensei."

Rin fumed inwardly, no matter what Yukio always could shoot him down. "That's good, at least your tail is doing _something_ , baby steps."

"I am _not_ a baby you need to take care of, nii-san" retaliated instantly Yukio, his glasses flashing but he turned back to the school notes nonetheless. "I can take care of myself."

"Sure you can" snipped in an answer Rin, and then smiled devilishly towards his twin. He had a perfect excuse to use his secret weapon and without thinking he leaned over and grabbed brown appendage. As expected, after crushing it between his fingers, Yukio jumped from his chair and he believed he stayed in mid-air for a few seconds as well.

"What was that for?!" growled angrily Yukio, turning at Rin with tears in the corners of his eyes. The tail slipping from between Rin's fingers, now swashing behind him and even twitching at the end.

Rin pointed towards it with a stupid smile on his face. "Look Yukio, it worked!"

His twin's face darkened, glasses flashed. "And what was that supposed to do?"

Rin didn't even think about stopping smiling. "Your tail, four-eyes."

Yukio with his eyebrow still twitching glanced at his tail and there was a clear surprise on his face. His tail kept on swaying and twitching like some kind of serpent. It never did that before. "My tail?"

Rin laughed out loud then. "It was just a test if your tail is as sensitive as mine is. Guess I was right."

Upon that Yukio sighed and willed his tail to fall into his open hand. He stroked it and then let it fall back. "Well, it's obvious, nii-san. Every animal's tail is sensitive, and like you said we're not human anymore so it's natural that when one grabs your tail it _hurts_."

Rin's smile morphed into devious smirk, his eyes shone. "Now you know how I felt all those times you pulled on mine, four-eyes. It didn't _tickle_ at all."

Yukio blenched some when realisation hit him in the face. "Nii-san, I- I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Rin however shrugged it off with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, 'fcourse not, how could you know. Well, it's all water under a bridge. Just don't pull on my tail again."

At that Yukio only sighed and then scratched his chin. "Then how I'll be able to make you listen to me?"

"Well... Say something for once?" Rin replied with a snark. "Just say 'hey, wait, I need you to listen to me'? It couldn't be that hard."

"It wouldn't if you'd actually listen."

Rin frowned and then once again shrugged the comment off. "Yeah, whatever. I'm going to make a dinner, have something on mind?" he said as he started towards the doors.

"What do you think about some Hayashi rice?"

He stopped with a hand on the handle and glanced back at his twin. Smirk slowly once again slipped on his face. "Western cuisine, hm? Can do" he said after all and pressed the handle. "I'll send Kuro when it will be ready" he threw over his shoulder when he stepped out and doors silently clicked into place.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a silent day, in whom nothing really happened, _yet_. From the time Rin opened his eyes, he knew it wasn't going to be any different than the few last ones. It was too quiet and peaceful, a brewing storm probably strolling towards them with a power of a thousand suns but even so – as the peaceful days always came to end – he wouldn't really mind. To be completely honest with himself, he was getting bored with his teacher-stuff, not really knowing how to reach around it and grab it fully as for what it was.

He blinked lazily his wide, blue eyes and sighed towards the window. The weather outside was nice, sun shone and there were only couple clouds slowly making it's way through sky. He longed to get out from this copped up place, he wanted to visit his friends but moreover he wanted Yukio to make that even the smallest step in his exercises.

Now, while he sat copped up within their _kotatsu_ , he wondered if Yukio made any progress at all in understanding and uniting the beast that rested in him. With a quick glance towards his brother's form – now slouched lightly over three candles that sat quietly before him – he sighed again. Of course, he couldn't stop at letting Yukio only walk around with his tail out as that could and probably _would_ be counter-productive as to what was their goal and so he figured ' _the candles_ ' would be perfect for his twin just as they were for him.

It didn't change the fact that Yukio couldn't light any of them, not even _all_ of them.

It looked like his brother was lacking that spark that he had to make it work. Still even if he realised it or not, he complied and did exactly how he was told to do, like right now. One didn't have to be a seer to see that his twin was frustrated to no end upon not reaching his goal in lighting up that one, middle candle.

How could Rin tell that though as for complete stranger Yukio'd look like a perfect picture of solid, undeterred calmness? Well, he needed to thank his twin's tail for that. The brown appendage his brother had currently swayed from side to side but he knew it was a matter of time before it'd finally curl in itself and shoot out, letting out a clear frustration his brother was feeling.

And so as the minutes passed between them, nothing happened.

Rin was at a point of almost dozing off with the tardiness of the pace in which time seemed to flow. Suddenly a thought struck him, that it must've been one of side-effects in being closed up in a pocket dimension for so long because wasn't it been almost two weeks now? To think that half of his free-from-school time was over only made him pout and slouch lazily over their _kotatsu_ more.

With his chin leaning on table he sighed – loudly this time.

The relations he had with Yukio... they didn't change at all. Now that was frustrating him to no end. A month ago he believed that when his twin would finally wake up they'd be more... _open_ to each other. Unfortunately there still was that lack of honesty between them and it hurt him, even if it wasn't the worst pain he felt in his life. He wouldn't mind though if Yukio actually came to him – _from his own will_ – and talked about what's bothering him. It was tiresome to always be on edge and figure what's going on around his brother's head, everything would be easier if he just trusted him enough.

But it wasn't going to be the case prolly until their deaths.

Because some things couldn't be changed, like him feeling irritation at Yukio's cold shoulder and that stupid, indifferent tone he was using while talking with him. God, their relationship didn't change at all, it reverted to the state it was from before his twin lost all the control at Blue Lake.

And Rin wasn't happy about it, at all.

A very quiet rustle piqued Rin's interest and soon enough, he couldn't help but smirk towards Yukio. He was finally irked enough to move and touch bridge of his nose, hair falling around his forehead in shame. With another swept of his – now lightly twitching – tail he exhaled.

"Tired already?" Rin couldn't help himself, he was a supreme being once in his life and he needed to relish in it as long as he could. "You've been sitting like that for the last three hours, any luck with the candles?"

Yukio's body twitched at half-mocking comment. "I almost got it, if not for your wheezing over the past ten minutes I would do it."

"Oh really, four-eyes? Am I bothering you that much? With my breathing?"

At that his twin faced him, expression indifferent as always but there was a steel in his eyes. "You've been staring at the bloody window for an hour now, if you really want to go out – go on the first floor, room 112. I am not safe-keeping you here nor you're my prisoner. You're free to do whatever you want."

On Rin's head a tick appeared. "You're blaming me for not being able to light a shitty candle now, spotty?"

As an answer his brother closed his eyes and then make the most incredible expression Rin ever saw. Yukio actually pouted only to frown and shake his head. "I-... I didn't say that, just..."

"You just did!" barked back Rin, sleepiness quickly fading away. He stood up and strode towards his brother. But even though he really wanted to give him a smart-ass comeback he didn't. "Do you even know what you're doing?" he added, towering over his sitting sibling.

Now it was time for Yukio to actually bite-back. "Of course I know!" he snapped, glasses slipping slightly over his nose. "I've read about it in more books than you did in your entire life-"

"And that makes you a master in disguise, doesn't it?" continued Rin, his tail curling behind him. "Well, sorry Mr. I've-read-all-about-it-in-a-book but it's apparently not working!"

"It would if you took your lazy bum somewhere and actually did something productive."

"I am doing something productive right now" countered Rin with a slap of his tail over his twins face. "Move, four-eyes" he said and while Yukio fumed inwardly and moved a bit aside, Rin sat lazily before candles. Then he smiled wickedly and clasped his palms over his knees. "Watch and learn."

"This is not a way to teach, nii-san" deadpanned Yukio, watching closely Rin anyway. "First you need to teach theory _then_ you can get into practical side of the topic. That's what I've been trying to tell you for a week now but you never listened. You just put the candles before me and said 'light the middle one'."

It was a sensible response and Rin frowned momentarily. "It's not like I've had anybody to teach me this stuff, y'know. Everything I know now, I've taught myself. You're a smart guy, Yukio, so I realised that it'll take you even less time than me" he answered and then once again smirked, fangs bared. "So you want a theory, huh?" he asked and when Yukio actually nodded he continued, his eyes on the candles. "First things first, emotions. Second, control. Third, usage."

His twin blinked, clearly not understanding the meaning of his teachings, and so he was forced to continue his thought. "That are the stages I'm going through to maintain both demon and human at equal measurements. There's one thing I've learned and that is that you can have both at the same time. So... demon – emotions, human – control, half-breed – usage."

And with those words, he concentrated on a middle candle. It took him few seconds to breach that border between his Assiah body and Gehenna's soul. Then once again he was reminded of the bond they shared – as every time he stepped beyond that border he figured – he was able to see things on a Gehenna's plane. Not really trying to figure out what that tiny red thread actually meant, he materialised his power on the top of a middle candle and it soon shone with a blue flame.

The middle candle flared, caressing them both with a blue hue.

"I- need to say that I'm impressed" cut through the silence Yukio. "You've come a long way since the last time... as I remember you."

That struck something in Rin, suddenly reminding him of those months full of tears, pain and anger. Gulping fearfully, he blinked the wetness from his eyes and smiled sheepishly, hiding behind his own mask. Some things shouldn't be shared. Ever. With a strong huff he put the candle out but couldn't stop himself from scratching at his head.

"Yeah, I guess. I had a lot of time for myself..." and there it was, that notch of sadness, hid under layers and layers of different emotions. Thinking that his role as a mentor has ended, Rin patted his sweaty palms on trousers and slowly stood up. "Like I said, emotions, humanity, usage. Emotions give you the strength and power, you'll feel it in your body like one side of a border; on the other will be your humanity, reason and control; and you need to cross that border and while you'll be at it, you'll manage to light the exact candle you wish. For now though I guess, you should try to light any of them, okay?"

Straightening his aching back, Rin moaned and then put hands behind his head. "Well, I'll leave it to you then" he said, glancing back at his twin who kept his eyes on the candles – probably still mulling over his lesson – and smiled. Then with a deep inhale he started to walk towards the exit.

Ne, he really needed to go outside.

But as he was reaching towards the handle, the door burst open and his jaw dropped to the floor. In their entryway stood no-other but Kirigakure Shura in all her skimpy-clothed glory, sword dappled over shoulder.

"If that aren't mah favourite twins" she drawled in her specific way, mouth half-smiling. "I've come to keep ya some company."

Yukio who's face went sheet-white, gulped but instantly changed it into his usual indifferent look, Rin on the other hand had his hands outstretched in a shock.

"How did you get here?" Was Rin's first question, because really, how? "I thought we're here completely alone?!"

In an answer Shura only pouted. "Ye wanna say ye didn't miss me?"

At this time, Yukio finally cut into the scene as delicately as he could. "It's nice to see you too, Shura-san."

"Ah!" Shura only now spotted a small form of Yukio, sitting on the rooms floor. "Mephisto didn't lie then, he said yer all healthy and kickin'."

"Of course he is, why wouldn't he be?" parroted Rin, suddenly aware of Shura's eyes on his brother's form. He couldn't do much as to not like it and so he stepped in-between them. His blue irises met with Shura's red ones. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

Now, Kirigakure Shura never really turned down a good day of brawl and it just so happened that Mephisto felt like being generous enough and let her have a day off with the twins. But in all honesty she was send there only to give both of them a proper training, even if only she had a few hours for it.

"I came here to kick yer lazy asses, so get up and let's go."

With those words she turned on her heel, not checking if any of the boys followed. They as dumbfounded as they were, only looked one to another and with shrugs they actually did trail after the exorcist.

They were going through well known corridors but only realised where they are going when they turned around a corner. Shura was clearly directing them towards their private firing range. The hall in which it was enclosed was huge, separated into different sections – Rin briefly remembered his own ' _candle_ ' training and what happened there. Well, he blushed over that memory.

Shura's and Yukio's backs were bared to his liking, as much as he could want but back then he was too surprised over the event to care about the details. Now however...

"Did ye have a proper training in the last few days?" Shura's voice boomed in a new room, which they crossed and stopped near the end of firing section. "'Cause you two looked like having a great honeymoon in there" she mentioned, giving them an idea that she heard their little spat. "Rin-kun must be a really good husband if yer lost ye touch."

"Wh-AT?!"

"Tche... Now yer even takin' shots fer him."

Yukio to whom previous words were aimed at, sighed calmly. "She's riling you up, nii-san. Don't let her get to you, it won't do you any good."

Rin however was too lost in the deep to speak. "What-? She just said-!"

"She was pulling our legs, ignore it."

Shura pouted. "I don't like te be ignored. Anyways who's up to some nice, long spar session?"

"So that's the reason why you came here?" asked Yukio, finally getting some answers.

"Ye, f'course why should I bother wit two of ye otherwise?" she countered, still keeping that smug look on her face. "Ye thought I missed you, scaredy-cat?"

At that Yukio's brow twitched, but he kept silent. Unfortunately for him, his tail couldn't keep much in the hiding and soon enough even Shura spotted his discomfort.

"I guess under all that yer aloofness ye still are human, eh?" she stated, smiling now openly. "Ye mind some quick rematch of our last match?" she dared Yukio and he compiled.

"Only if you're ready to lose, then yes."

Rin watched the exchange from a corner of his eyes and while he knew there wasn't anything wrong with it, he still caught himself wanting to bare his fangs at Shura and hiss. There was something in his blood, in his soul wanting something, he just didn't know what. With a half-glare he resigned from intervening though and sat down on a chair, crossed his arms and huffed in silence.

It wasn't that he wasn't interested in the rematch but he'd really enjoy it by far more if Shura wasn't present. On the other hand it was nice to have to see if his younger twin still had that trigger that made him be a perfect Dragoon.

"Ye ready, scaredy four-eyes?" Shura spoke and her voice loomed over the room. When she got a nod from Okumura-sensei that stood not far from her she smiled and laughed out loud. "Let the game begin!"

When last syllable echoed in a fire range, lights went out – literally – and everywhere they could see was darkness. Rin shivered, his eyes scanning surroundings and briefly sweatdropped upon realisation that they were going to shot targets in dark. Before he could gulp through a bile that rose in his throat, first shoots fired – sparks lighting weapon Yukio was holding.

And that was when he lost it, his mind flew outta his skull at amazing show he was seeing. Because for him it looked as if they coordinated each and every turn, twist or even slight bend of their bodies together. Sparks leaving Yukio's hand gun more than once lightened his concentrated profile, beautifully tracing every even the tiniest nook, lips, cheek, eyes... Those eyes, they got that spark in them!

It was clear that he was awed and even when light once again surrounded them, he couldn't stop his mouth from hanging open.

"Ye know" spoke Shura, shouldering her sword and looking at slouched Yukio with a bit of disappointment "Yer almost had me. It's a shame that ye get so easily tired."

Yukio who couldn't hide his own disappointment, shuddered but managed to hold in his own need to snarl at older exorcist. Brown appendage that kept on spiralling and slashing was indicating enough that he was far from happy. "Next time then" he answered, clearing his throat, his breathing ragged.

Shura agreed with a smirk of her own. "Next time, scaredy" she smiled and then turned towards the only-quiet resident of the room. "Yer ready, Rin-kun?"

Question shot Rin down, only now aware of two pairs of eyes on his person. For a second he wanted to turn down the invitation but when Shura shrugged nonchalantly and looked back towards Yukio, he snapped. He didn't want Shura to look at his twin as she was, with those lewdly parted lips and barely covered breasts.

Before he knew it, he was on his long, lanky legs. "You're on!" he shouted for both of them to hear. With Shura's half-cock of head and Yukio's surprise written all over his face, he walked over where he kept his Kurikara. With a smooth move he shoved the sheathe down and to his brother's shock of his life, he didn't burn with the blue flames.

"Nii-san?" Yukio asked, slowly getting up from ground. His mouth open a bit, he tried to say something but Shura – _fucking Shura!_ \- cut it short.

Her sword's blade slashed near Yukio's stomach, to keep him in place. "Ah, yer didn't know? Well, leave it fer later, honeybirds..." she said, mockingly and finally faced Rin who's own face expression was as indifferent as Yukio's could be. "I'd say get outta way, four-eyes. It might get ugly" she mentioned from a corner of her mouth and upon seeing questioning in younger twins eyes she added. "We'd be very sorry if we'd hurt you by accident."

Now totally confused about the 180 degree change of the entire situation, Yukio actually compiled but only because of Rin. He seemed like a very different person, calm, stoic and maybe even a bit overconfident. As if the twin he grew up with disappeared and was replaced with complete stranger. It was the first time he'd see Rin like that, so serious, so... _mature_ , probably even more so than he felt like.

With long strides, Shura moved to the another section of the hall, Rin following after her and Yukio trailing behind both of them. Once they got into section reserved for Knight's Shura cranked her neck little but Rin did nothing of sorts. Only his dark blue eyes moved with every motion his opponent was doing.

Yukio who was truly intrigued by the situation, sat down on a bench for trainees and waited.

Time ticked but yet none of participants moved a muscle.

"To fist blood?" asked nonchalantly Shura as if bored and then slashed her blade down in invitation.

"Or to first blister" answered back Rin, now smiling himself. Oh how he wanted to see her fall under his own blade, only to keep her away from his twin. "No holding back."

Shura 'tsked' but smirked nonetheless. "Ye think ye'll manage to win this, Rin-kun?" she asked him, knowing that something triggered his inner demon. "Well, then. Just don't ye run back cryin' to four-eyes later!" and with that she jumped from her place with sword coming first and fast towards Rin's face.

Rin on the other side smirked, one fang glistering in the lights upon Shura's attack. She could be so predictable when it came to fighting, that he barely needed any effort to try and dodge her attacks. This time however, she crossed some invisible border she shouldn't and he needed to put her back behind it, no matter what.

"Nii-san!"

Sword was coming at his head and face fast but he wasn't going to dodge it, oh no. No, not this time and only when hall's lights shone on the blade – _that was brimming with the power_ – he reacted and pulled up till now limply lying Kurikara to clash steel with steel.

The pure surge of the power that Shura's sword was holding – send an enormous wave of wind, that'd knock back even the heaviest wrestler from the ring. Both of them, Shura and Rin however stayed in place – unwavering – and only stared each other in the face.

It was a clash of the titans.

Without second to loose, Rin called upon his flames and with a bit of frightening smile upon his lips, burst them around – lightening entire hall. For a second there was just blinding light but when it slowly faded away one could make out a silhouette of standing Shura, few meters from Rin. He wasn't entirely happy that she dodged his wall of fire and figured he needed something else to make her loose her balance. Something to trigger her off, but with her there was a flat chance for anything to work out.

Frowning silently, he launched himself at her, and she recuperated by doing the same. Their dance started and Rin didn't want to be the one to step on toes of his partner. No, he kept on using all of his information about Shura's techniques, as she taught some of them to him too, but no it was in the past. All he wanted to do is to win, he wanted to win Yukio.

When another gust of wind almost caught him on his cheek, he snarled and just for a second he let the beast take control over human. His bright blue eyes shone with red, flames a bit wilder and harder to keep a grip over but he didn't care. For Rin even the slightest kind of control was enough, as far as he wouldn't completely loose the sight of the goal, everything was fine.

Steel clashed with steel, wind fought with fire.

After nearly hitting Shura from the flank – and her jumping back, albeit tired now and breathing hard – he finally felt the first seeps of tiredness coming over his body too. Well, that was another thing he didn't master nor understood completely but by using his demonic powers since Kurikara's spell was broken, he could tire extremely fast ( _even to the point of losing conciousness_ ) if used for too long. Short bursts where good but in a long shoot, he was doomed.

Seeing the situation as it was, while he kept his indifferent mask on he realised that Shura was playing for time, she somehow must've seen his weak point and wanted to use it. Unfortunately for her, he wasn't going to lose.

There was only last thing he could use against her, her own strategy.

So when a steady sweat drifted down his forehead and cheek, he calmed the beast and slowly put out the flames, reverting to the beginning. He saw a flash of opportunity in Shura's eyes and played along. She lunged at him – one, two, three slashes in mid-air – and summoned her snake familiar to strike him as well, yet he didn't do much again but dodged the hits. Only when he jumped back the snake familiar made completely new move; entwined itself around his body – trapping him – and he fell to the ground, Kurikara clashing nearby.

Shura stepped up to him and he hissed upon seeing edge of a blade. Edge that was getting closer and closer to his face until he once again called upon his flames – sizzling the snake into the dust and too-fast for a normal eye to see ran his own claws over Shura's side – ultimately winning the battle.

Shura gasped but didn't move an inch.

Rin however smiled, his strange need to show Yukio that he's the best passed by then and he was back as the good ol' Rin everybody knew.

"Ha! I got you! I won!" he chortled, his body reverting to his human form, flames gone. It was his victory and he was going to celebrate it. "Ye see?!"

Shura however didn't seem to lost her own nonchalance even more upon looking at his face she smirked wickedly, lightly caressing her own wound. "Don't be so happy yet, it's a draw."

He stopped, blinked and then growled under nose. "No it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not!"

Shura sighed and then called over her shoulder lightly. "Ne, scaredy four-eyes, it was a draw wasn't it?"

Yukio stepped back towards them and looked over both of them, sighing. "I'm afraid so."

"What?!" snapped Rin, fading fast. He felt really tired after the match. "How?! She didn't-?!"

"Apparently, she did, nii-san" answered slowly Yukio and then reached towards Rin's face.

If the time seemed to tick too slowly before then at that exact moment it simply stopped. For Rin, his twins hand moved in slow motion, touching him, his cheek and when his thumb brushed something from it, he didn't want that moment to end. But it did as Yukio took his hand back as quickly as he put it in the first place, rounding thumb at him and showing a dark red fluid that slowly drifted down it.

That touch, soft and innocent however once again woke the flames he was bearing inside, and just for a second – his eyes caught Yukio's entirely ignoring the friendly gesture he made. His breath caught in chest upon seeing the bold realisation on his brother's face but couldn't look away.

"Will te two of ye get a room or somethin'?"

That is until sudden shove made him lean forward and he saw extremely fast approaching, blushing face of his own twin. There was a clash but different kind of it, their faces met or would rather smack together if not of Rin's last second slight detour. Thanks to it, their noses were still in one pieces, Yukio's glasses slightly askew and his lips over his but it was a tiny detail.

Before he realised what was happening.

Yukio was blushing – full, rosy blush over his nose and cheeks – eyes wide open – just like he himself was. Neither of them moved, scared of what might happen if any of them actually did. That was also the exact moment when that sweet mixture of wood, honey and something fruity filled the air but it was much, much stronger this time.

After few seconds in which they stood like that petrified on the spots, Rin realised two things. First was information that Shura was still with them and probably balling her eyes out at this view the second being the fact that his open palm somehow landed around Yukio's neck while his twins stopped over his shoulder.

The situation they were in was so fucking wrong but in that one moment it felt perfect to him. If he only could move his lips a bit... God, his own twin stole his first kiss!

Before his brain could completely run through all the information, he felt that sudden heaviness that shoved him downwards was gone and he could finally move back – and he did. He practically jumped away from his twin – but it wasn't as if Yukio didn't do the same because he did. Terrible silence blossomed around both of them, and Rin used it to chance a look at Shura who – _to his fuckin' surprise_ – had her back to them and was probably totally unaware of the awkwardness of their situation.

As he stared at the back of Shura's head, his tongue darted outside to lick his lower lip. He wouldn't dare say he could actually still taste Yukio on it. Thankfully before any more awkwardness ensued, Shura boldly turned to face them but before she spoke, she frowned and took a long, good look over both of them.

Rin felt as his skin burned with embarrassment, he couldn't help a fully-faced blush that spread around his cheeks and face. He glanced at Yukio too, hoping he was looking even worse for wearing than he was and in reality... when Yukio's still wide open eyes caught him staring, he blushed cherry-tomato too.

"Now, what's wit ye two honeybirds? Need some marriage counseling?" she dropped at them but shrugged at the strange, apparently awkward glances boys were exchanging. "Whatevs, I need ta go, I hope ye won't stop yer training tho. I'd make me really sad to kick yer asses without effort" she added, turning and waving them goodbye. "See ya scrubs!"

Even though Shura left the room, the silence was too heavy for twins. Not really knowing how to react, they stood motionlessly, either looking everywhere but themselves. However Rin was first to break from his shock upon what occurred barely seconds ago. He actually was glad that Shura didn't see anything, now that would be terrifying.

He cleared his throat, suddenly dry and thirsty. "She haven't seen anything, thank god."

Yukio followed him into safe-topic of Shura's mocking. "Yes..." he cleared his throat as well. "I could only imagine what she'd call us if she saw."

Rin fumed, cheeks still red and pouted. "As if honeybirds wasn't bad enough."

Yukio agreed, nodding. "It's Shura, everybody have a nickname."

Rin casually shrugged it off, awkwardness still thick in the air. "About-"

"It was an accident" cut in sharply Yukio, then pushed his glasses up. "Shura's fault as well, as far as I can tell."

"How was that-?"

Yukio send Rin silent glare and he pouted. "She tugged on our shirts, nii-san. Rules of physics unfortunately didn't help the matter at hand and we... _crashed_."

Rin coughed, suddenly feeling light-headed. "Yea-h, we crashed. Our _faces_ crashed."

Now that comment made slight blush reappear over Yukio's nose and he crossed his arms. "Yes, crashed. We can't call that a kiss, now can we?" Rin twitched nervously, sweating. "Kiss is wanted by both sides and clearly is not just a smack of lips one over the other." Well, yeah, Yukio could believe in what he wanted, Rin still wasn't sold on that definition though. It wasn't end of it as his twin choose to continue his thought but much more subtle.

"Besides, I can't tell anyone that my first kiss was that of my nii-san" he ended with a clear air of uneasiness around him."

Well it took one to know one.

Because, unbeknown to Yukio, Rin was going to cherish this moment many, many days later with a small, broken smile upon his face. Because life was cruel and they were hellspawns, and that combination wasn't meant to be ( _for very long_ ).

And to think that it was such a silent day, in whom everything happened at once.


	5. Chapter 5

" _You are a fever I am learning to live with, and everything is happening_  
at the wrong end of a very long tunnel."  
― Richard Siken

* * *

Within silent room 602 just barely at dawn first rustles of sheets could be heard and an almost strangled groan followed, ultimately breaking the charm of peace. Peace which Okumura Rin couldn't reach for days.

Gritting his teeth he glanced towards sleeping form of his twin, just on the opposite side of their room. Yukio's back was everything he saw, beside that long tail of his that would twitch it's tip from time to time. Overall, he was fast asleep – his breathing deep and slow, glasses probably hidden underneath his pillow and that's what he needed right now.

With a fast movement Rin slid his feet to the floor and more rustling of sheets followed when he got up and tiptoed towards the exit. Only once the doors clicked quietly, he let himself breath out and grit his teeth again in anger.

Because he just didn't understand what was happening to him. Few days ago he was completely fine and seeing as he was stuck with his twin (and only with him) for at least few more weeks, he couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that for the past few days he could have these... _dreams_.

Shaking his heavy-feeling head, he clenched fists and stormed towards boy's bathrooms. He evidently had a problem, a half-hard one at that – for which he was quite happy about, because there was still a chance that it would just... _go away_.

Like the one he had a couple days ago.

The worst thing was, those... dreams weren't even very graphical, oh no. They would just flare up the flames that he had within so he'd wake up sweaty, breathless, and with half-hard-on. Not that he never had one, but the dreams... _The person_ that he kept dreaming about, it was just plainly wrong.

One shouldn't be keeping re-writing the kiss that he happened to have with his own kin. Of course, _knowing_ that it was sick and nauseating was one thing, his _imagination_ had however completely different ideas about it – hence his morning strolls to the bathrooms before Yukio'd wake.

Haphazardly stepping into dim bathrooms, Rin didn't even thought about turning the light on – he instantly started to undress only to jump into an almost freezing-cold shower. With his teeth chattering, he inhaled deeply – calming his racing heart and hormones.

He didn't dare to reach for himself afraid of what he might do, but more afraid of who he might think about while doing it.

Said person haven't a slightest idea about his own predicament, for what he was more than a grateful. As if their kiss wasn't awkward already, all he needed to do was to add fuel to the fire that was still burning even after a week.

It must've been his own mind's deviation. That must've been it, after all Yukio did steal his own first kiss, not that that mattered much to him, but somehow his mind must've tricked his body. So no, it couldn't have anything to do with how cute he found Yukio when he tries his 'middle candle' exercise or how soft his tail looks when it sweeps behind him in slow movements. Nor could it have anything to do with those strange, too-quick moments when Yukio catches his eyes and they stare at each other – as if drowning in other's irises – until one of them blinks away.

Or the fact that he _did_ imagine on that first night after their 'face crush' how it would feel to actually move his mouth a bit against Yukio's and sweep tongue over his lower lip. Would he reciprocate it or slap him away and call a pervert?

A tiny blush blossomed over Rin's cheeks, what was he thinking again? Was he really that twisted and wicked to wonder about the outcome of his stupid dreams? Shaking angrily his dark hair, he shivered – only now realising that the water was indeed ice-cold and he was almost to the point of half-freezing to death. Not that he cared about his knees and feet which by now were appearing to change colours into dark-bluish. Almost disappointingly he turned off the water and stepped back into bathroom.

From high-build wide windows first sun rays fell into the room as Rin stood motionlessly and started at himself in the mirror. He definitely had problems sleeping, waking up at unholy hours only to run into bathroom and hide his fears. Because that was all he had by now, a fear that Yukio might somehow find out about his dreams, about his stupid thoughts.

He was afraid that once the cat will be let out the bag, Yukio will turn on him and leave as far away as he'd be able to. And he didn't want that, he didn't want to be left alone again. It was even worse that he started to think he might've be a tiny bit jealous about Yukio too.

Their days in here were slowly coming to a close, when that will happen everybody will be all over Yukio.

Especially Shura... and Shiemi.

And he didn't like even _the thought_ of it.

* * *

Picture they represented in that after-dinner laziness was probably like one of those old family photo albums. Old, worn out but holding that quiet warmness about the situation, making even the toughest man smile. As it happened both Rin and Yukio were sitting cooped-up in _kotatsu_ , letting the laziness wore off after a good meal.

Rin was slouching over some new manga, elbow steadying his heavy-lidded head that screamed for a minute of sleep. Yukio on the other hand read a tad-bit too crumbled manga, frowning at very visible splotches of dried tears. Even so he tried hard not to voice out his own displease with the state of the most important volume of his favourite manga, he was scowling inwardly - but kept quiet anyhow.

The silence was overwhelming.

And as neither of them spoke it only grew more. Until Yukio finished the volume and finally pushed his glasses up nose, clearly irritated.

"I've told you many times before to _not to_ cry all over mangas, nii-san" he spoke lowly, clearly. His tail whipped onto the floor, next to Rin. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to read something over and over again six times, wondering about meaning because somebody dared to cry all over the page?"

Rin pouted but glanced from a corner of his eyes back at his twin. He slapped his tail down over Yukio's with a silent ~smack. "Why are you so butthurt about it? It's not as if it was a good ending anyways..."

Yukio looked positively aghast. "It was the perfect ending! A happy one!"

Rin however didn't agree, at all. Moreover he would even dare to say he was disappointed by the way the series ended. With an air of authority, he smoothly closed the tome he was reading and now fully cocked his head towards his brother. He blinked, twice before he could find his tongue though – because Yukio's hard-stare was enough for him to lose his cool. Shaking off sudden flare of inner fire, he narrowed his eyes.

"It ended like _shit_ " he pointed out, by now hands crossing over table. Yes, he was displeased about the manga, very much so. "So yeah, they both got alive and stuff but why did they part their ways? Shouldn't they actually try to repair their bond?"

At that Yukio's eye twitched. "It was enough for them, don't you think, nii-san? After everything they went through. Besides plot of the entire series was around them finally finishing their quest and settling down, having a real family."

Rin's tail shoot out in exasperation, he felt himself raise and thud his palms on the table. "That's exactly what I mean!" he countered, his fangs slipping from between lips a bit more. "They are a family, a _brothers_! They shouldn't just finish what they needed and... _leave_."

"Maybe that's your interpretation, or rather a misinterpretation. Yes, I agree that they are a family, yes I agree that ' _the leave'_ seemed kind of rushed as an ending of the series but you should look at this from different perspective." When Yukio saw Rin opening his loud mouth again, he glared at him. "Just listen, nii-san! Look, they left each-other's sides and that's okay. That means they grew up enough to not to relay on each other's too much – as they did through the series. It shows that life is ever-changing and no – not everything goes as we wished it to go. Life is cruel like that but it also gives you hope for a different tomorrow."

Rin watched wide-eyed his twin. Yukio's face was somber, he'd even tell he already went through all ' _what if's_ ' that could be dropped in between the chapters of the manga and he found it once again extremely cute and heart-warming. He really liked those short about-a-manga arguments he had with him. Still he couldn't help but feel disappointed that the story ended this and not that way so he straightened back and crossed arms over his chest, pouting.

"I still don't see anything positive about it."

Yukio inhaled, tiredly. "I'm not going to argue with you today, I'm too frustrated with my own problem."

Rin couldn't help it and smirked, his tail swaying teasingly behind him. "Ah, ye still didn't manage to light the candles, eh?" Yukio send him a silent warning from behind his glasses but he didn't care, as if anything he still was the stronger of them two. Now that thought gave him an idea. "Hey, Yukio... you've been on the first floor yet? Which room was it..?"

"102."

"102, yeah!" he agreed, but when Yukio shook his head, he only smiled. "Well then, neither did I. So let's go over there and see what's all that mystery behind that closed doors, hm?"

"Nii-san..."

"Oh come on!" he wailed, seeing a very upset face of his twin. Without thinking he reached for Yukio's arm and tugged at it, making the other stumble to his feet.

"What the hell?!"

"Come on, only today! Let's go and see what's behind doors number 102! I promise it's only once!"

Yukio frowned, sharply shaking Rin's hand off his arm. "If you're bored enough then go by yourself! I don't need to be tugged behind you like some five-year-old."

"Grumpy five-year-old" Rin added, smirking. "Now, if you're that lazy I can carry you on my back if you need it?"

Yukio's face flared bright red then and he actually stuttered. "W-w..." he continued to clear his throat but glared at Rin nonetheless. "No, thank you, I'm fine on my own two feet."

Rin was speechless for a second when Yukio's face confronted into pure shock and was it fluster? Yes, it must've been that. Whatever went through his twins mind made him purely horrified but at the same time Rin found another thing about Yukio to tease him later.

"So it means you're going?" he prodded, smiling like a Cheshire-cat. As an answer he got another threatening glare from his twin but couldn't do much but smile broadly, leading them out their living-room. "Still, if you need a piggy-back-ride just say so" he threw over his shoulder, laughing inwardly at possible Yukio's outrage that followed his sentence.

"Nii-san!"

Hm, after all he still might've enjoy this boring afternoon.

* * *

Yet once again in his life Okumura Rin was awestruck by the place he found himself in. Just barely few seconds ago he was standing with Yukio by his side in a dimly-lit corridor on the first floor, before room number 102. But it was a few seconds ago and they flew too fast for his mind to comprehend and he opened the damned doors to feel his jaw almost crumble to the floor.

Thankfully before that'd happen he stepped through and into warm, sunny afternoon. The wind gently ruffled his raven locks and he smiled towards it, even if it was just an illusion it was good enough for him to feel at peace. He didn't heard as Yukio closed the doors behind them, nor he saw him stepping close next to him where he stood.

His entire being was consumed by the never-ending beauty of those sun-drowning green hills and that one, half-naked cherry tree that was in the distance.

"Wow, just... wow" he murmured, finally detaching his eyes from the view before them. He glanced at Yukio and his breath hitched. Yukio seemed to glow with the slowly setting sun, eyes seeing however only some far away point in horizon. Heavily lifting his eyes from the vision of his twin, he looked into the distance as well and only after awhile he figured where was he looking in the first place. "Say, Yukio... how about a quick race to that cherry tree? Like in good old times?" he said, idea so surreal and magical.

Of course as an answer he got a tiny snort from Yukio. "We'd faster break our necks than run all that way to that cherry tree, nii-san."

Rin however didn't budge from his idea. "Would it hurt you to just do what I ask you to? Once?"

Yukio finally glanced back at him, eyes sharp and cool. "I only say it's ridiculous idea to run over there."

By when Yukio's words drifted to him, he didn't care, he wanted to remind himself of the times when they were young. He wanted to remind himself of their own bond as a brothers... and nothing else. He needed this, right now or he might've do something he was going to regret later on. And so Rin smirked, putting hands on his hips.

"You're just scared, four-eyes."

Yukio grumbled, weaving his hand through his wayward-by-now hair. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!" appraised Rin, bending slightly towards his twin. "You're scared that you'll lose. But don't worry, I won't use my demon powers. Promise!"

Yukio shook his head which dropped slightly, in the end only agreeing. And that was all Rin needed to feel something burst in his chest. Warm, happy feeling pooled through his entire being and he was gone, he didn't need anything else in the world... just Yukio.

With confident stride, Rin stood next to his brother – smiling – and laughed upon his twin's concentrated expression. Then with a quick nod, he shouted ' _start'_ and they were gone – running down the hill. Rin felt like flying on air and couldn't help bursts of laugh that escaped his lips, while he'd glance back at how's Yukio doing.

He was more than aware that his brother was still under rehabilitation but also wasn't surprised to see him match his own tempo. Yukio apparently didn't want to lose but he didn't want either. Leaving that aside, he pressed on a bit more, a bit faster and his twin followed. Soon enough however Rin realised that he wasn't going to win with Yukio if he kept on going like that.

They were more than half-way to that cherry tree when Rin snapped. As much as he was happy from the situation and calm, heavenly race they were having, a splotch of burning panic started to seep through and he _couldn't lose_. He was the older one, he was supposed to be looked upon and he was the stronger one of them two.

Narrowing his eyes towards his twin he did the first thing that he could come up with and he jumped at Yukio – who, wide-eyed jumped back and glared, suddenly stopping.

"What the-?" he snapped, his face flushed. "What was that for!?"

Rin however smiled as if it could wash away all his conflicting emotions. "Oh, y'know" he shrugged, suddenly getting into fight-stance and Yukio stared at him for a few long seconds. "I figured that some hand-to-hand combat might come in handy too..."

Yukio frowned. "Nii-san..." he started, trying to figure out his brother's antics. "I thought you know that there _is_ a reason why I'm a Dragoon and not a Knight... right?"

Rin shrugged it off. "Well... No, not really."

There was a huge sweatdrop at Yukio's head. "It is because I am not as flexible as I should to be a Knight. I'm better off in precision-targeting than with real combat."

"Well, then... It's a time to change that" stated Rin, swinging his fist ahead. Yukio side-stepped it but still looked wide-eyed at each and every single hit. By the time he barely missed another hit, Rin snipped. "Oh come on, Yukio. We have healing factor for god's sakes! It's not as if you were going to murder me with one single hit!"

Yet even he bared his teeth at his twin, Yukio would only dodge his attacks and that was starting to piss Rin more. Then with an another gust of wind, he send two punches – which actually hit his target – making him slump back few steps.

With a smirk on his face Rin knew that his twin was getting more and more agitated and by now he should be fighting back. And yes, to all his predictions Yukio started to try and hit him back. Of course he wasn't going to say that he was bordering on his own powers, now dodging himself.

But only after another missed kick he spared a chance to glance at his twin and that's when he saw it again, that spark. Tiny, hidden deep in his irises, slowly rising spark.

_The trigger._

The thing that Yukio was missing when working over his candles.

And then he felt sudden pain, grinding around his ribs and stomach.

Yukio's well-aimed kick send him falling to the ground, hardly breathing and actually coughing up saliva and tiniest amount of blood. It hurt, his _insides_ hurt and all he wanted to do was curl up in himself and never get up but before he'd do exactly that there were hands grabbing his shoulders and a very concerned voice of Yukio.

"Nii-san! Can you breath? Please tell me I didn't hurt you!"

He wheezed and coughed but looked his twin in the face, smiling. "Good job, four-eyes. You got me on my knees."

Yukio gulped apologetically and shook his head, bashing Rin over his stupid ideas. "I knew it's going to end bad, it always does."

"Almost" piped in Rin, smiling and then curling a bit more into himself. Upon seeing that Yukio immediately slapped his head upside-down at which Rin hissed with his tail shooting like a dagger behind him.

"Don't you ever curl up after getting hit into solar-plexus, nii-san. It's basic sparring-aid rule. Now get up, you need to straighten up so the pain can lessen, otherwise your muscles are going to spasm more..." Yukio spoke, slowly reaching around Rin – albeit awkwardly – and somehow pulling him up. Rin kept on breathing through clenched teeth, curling fists from pain. "Now, who was telling me something about having a healing factor, again? Nii-san?"

Rin grumbled over the pain but once they started to limp slowly towards the cherry tree it started to lessen. Well, at least Yukio knew how to treat all their bruises and cuts – which he was going to after they'll get back to their room. When they slowly made their way over to the cherry tree – whose pink petals kept on softly falling and flying around thanks to wind – Rin again realised how nice it was of his brother to keep him upright when all he wanted to do was curl down.

In moments like this he knew and felt the unmistakeable love that was between them, their bond. Even if he was twisted enough to dream something more of it, he felt entirely content with their sibling love. In those glances they shared, in all their stupid arguments they were having, in all the frustration they went through, in those smiles they got for each other and that terrifying ability to self-sacrifice themselves for the other.

If that was love – if that meant he was _falling_ _in_ love – he was glad that it was Yukio.

His self-destructive culmination of thoughts was broken by Yukio or rather the sudden coldness that replaced the heat of his body. Blinking around he realised they were under the cherry tree already and he smiled. The pain almost went away and he could already move around on his own accord which he did – as he felt left out, sitting alone under the tree – and walked closer to his brother. However before he actually did anything else, he stopped himself – a few paces behind Yukio and just looked.

It was the exact moment when Rin promised himself that no matter what the future was going to bring he was going to make Yukio happy – even if it meant him leaving to pursue his own happiness. At that he almost chuckled how ironic the thought was. He'd never say he's going to say it but now, right there and then he would let him go – Yukio's argument about the stupid manga hitting a bit too close to home exactly in a time like this.

Yes, Rin was ready to let go. As long as Yukio was happy, as long as he'd write to him and spend some time together as they used to.

"Ne, Yukio..." he said, still feeling the pain around his chest. He walked over to his twin and looked him in the face. "I found the trigger" he added, drowning himself in Yukio's eyes. With his hands on his hips he however blinked and glanced at the beautiful vision before them. "I know how to help you with the candles."

Yukio's eyes narrowed slightly, his finger pushed the glasses up. "Really now? A trigger?"

Rin nodded, contemplating. "Yeah, a trigger – quite literally. After closer observation I figured out what might help you in mastering your flames" he spoke, proudly. "You said yourself that you're a Dragoon for a reason, ne? Why not use that as basis? I've watched you on the fire-range y'know..." he said softly, his eyes drifting from the horizon to pink petals that swirled around them. "When you wield the gun, there's that spark in your eyes and believe me when I'm saying it's all you need, because it is."

"A trigger? A spark? Nii-san... I think you might read too much manga."

Rin growled, the beautiful moment popping like a bubble and he rounded at Yukio. "I am trying to help you and all you got to say to me is ' _you're reading too much manga_ '?!"

Yukio nodded but there was a smile on his face and two twinkles in his eyes, and all was good as few seconds later a chuckle followed the statements and two bright grins flashed on a dirty, battered faces.

But unlike in the old-timers films the brothers didn't walk into the sunset, didn't went on another adventure. They stood silently, both happy in their own ways, both cherishing the moment as for what it was because there wasn't a say that it might've been their last one.

With an exchange of glances they nodded towards each other – no words needed – and turned their back's to the sunset, walking back to the reality.

Upon their hike only their shadows swayed mocking them for what they could have but didn't reach for, promising the end of the peace they had.


	6. Chapter 6

" _ **The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn**."_

_\- David Russell_

* * *

With a heavy step Rin walked into his and Yukio's room, with the twin following closely behind him and actually closing their doors. Neither of them really spoke about anything important in their short trip back, Yukio only mentioned something about 'the candles' but that was it.

Oh, there was also pointing out a tiny detail of their battered, dirty and bruised states at which Rin could only roll his eyes and grump out that it didn't bother him that much.

But now both of them were back in their room, Rin flipped on his bed -face down- but Yukio unlike him glanced around as if thinking about something. After awhile, few sighs and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Yukio stepped up to Rin's wardrobe – which in the meantime was his own just as well and started to rummage through the clothes.

Rin's sensitive ears picked up on the sound, perking up (with his tail few second later). Grumpily so he started to rise his head, to latch his eyes onto silhouette of his twin. Or rather the nice curve with a bronze tail, swinging back and forth that he actually seen. Not that it was a bad view...

He grumped more thinking about what just went through his head again. "Whatcha doing, Yukio?" he asked, trying to steady his eyesight on a point above his twins tail – not under. When he did not got any answer in first twenty seconds, he slowly pushed himself upright and leaned his back on the wall – closing his eyes and inhaling.

"Just looking for something to wear" came answer form Yukio, just as he half-stepped back with a plain long-sleeved shirt, boxers and pyjama bottoms. Before he however closed the wardrobe he boldly smelled the clothes at which Rin's eyes snapped open and he stared wide-eyed at his twin.

"Did ye just smelled my clothes, four-eyes?!"

Yukio unperturbed at all, shoot him a very cold look with his glasses shining ominously. "Last time I took a change of clothes they were worn out" he spoke with an strange glow to his eyes. "Who puts sweaty clothes back into the wardrobe? It was disgusting, so from that day I always check the clothes before I take them to the bathrooms."

Rin's face agape, he nearly crumbled on his spot on bed. "I did not put old clothes into wardrobe, spotty!" he snarled viciously – but being on all fours with his tail snapping skywards he looked more like a hissing kitten than anything else.

"Well" cut in Yukio, pushing his glasses back again. "you did and I almost choked to death from the stench of your..." he paused suddenly and blinked few times, eyes directing at doors. "I'm going to take a shower, you should too. After we're finished I'll look us over, maybe put some lotion on that bruise you're probably sporting on your chest."

Those words reminded Rin of the reason why they came into their room in the first place and he groaned, scratching at his head. "Oh, yeah, that. Go ahead then, I'll join you after I'll find some change of clothes."

Yukio nodded silently and stepped out.

Inhaling through his nose Rin suddenly flared bright red at his own words. He didn't meant them that way but... He shook his head and clapped himself on the face few times – only reminding himself of one of the bruises he had and howled out in pain.

Hissing, he pressed his hands harder and then breathed out. While he sat on his sheets, he wondered about his twisted perception of his love to Yukio. In a few days everything seemed to go upside down, literally. Of course he always knew he loved Yukio, he always respected him (only on few occasions though) but... the way he started to look at him now – the picture was like in distorted mirror.

When that really started though? Was it on the day when he and Yukio kissed? Well, yes – one might say it but he wasn't so sure any more. What if he was in love with Yukio long way before all that? What if the feeling was always there but only now it came up to the light?

Also another disturbing thought came back at him, or rather words he heard spoken by Mephisto around seven months ago. At time he didn't think much of them but looking at his own prediction he started to wonder if he meant them as a warning.

_Demon's don't have boundaries. Human, demon, brother or mother, for us everybody is the same._

Of course he raved back at him then that it was the most disgusting thing to say – especially to him, a half-demon, a person that was going to soon enough learn the painful truth behind those words. But that stupid fluff-clown had a good reasons to say so, as he explained later the strange occurrence of the _supermoons_.

_We of the demon kind are easily swayed between our desires – we're meant to be that way. That leaves us with our little chit-chat, Rin-kun. Now that Kurikara spell is broken, we will need to close you up – nice and snugly – in your room when the soonest **supermoon** comes. We wouldn't want you to run rampaging through the streets in the heat, literally._

Rin's face sombered, reminiscing that conversation, because apparently he still needed to inform Yukio about it. Shrugging off those topics from his mind, he felt that he finally gathered enough strength to get up and start to look for some fresh clothes.

Not specially he wanted to think about the night of demons lust. Well more like, not ever really. His chat with Mephisto never stopped at getting the definition but fullblown, sadistic and sarcastic monologue with the details. So what if back then he kept on getting whiter than sheet of paper and trembled with fear of what was to come and actually happen.

Groaning, his hand came into contact with kinda-fresh smelling t-shirt and he pulled it out. Upon closer inspection however he gagged little. Yukio might've been on to something after all but unfortunately he was too worn out at the moment to care and so he took out first bottoms and boxers he could find.

Well, the day didn't finish just yet and when he stepped out their room, Rin was more than sure that it wasn't the end of his silent torture.

* * *

He hissed when Yukio's cold hand smeared an odours lotion over his bruised cheek. "Tche! Are you ironing my face or something?!"

Yukio's glasses flashed but he kept his passive-aggressive expression. "It's your fault that I got you beaten up."

Now it was Rin's time to glare at his twin. "Excuse me? You didn't beaten me up. You merely scratched me."

"Oh, yes, sorry, my mistake, nii-san." Yukio spoke, now eyeing Rin's bare torso and a very visible purplish mark around his chest. "However it seems our healing abilities don't work too well on simple cuts and bruises..." he paused, his eyes narrowing a bit but still staring at bare chest of Rin's. "It's interesting how our bodies work, isn't it? I remember what life-threatening wounds you endured. But now, while you sit here you still feel pain of sore muscles and bruises. Hmm, even tiny cuts..."

Rin sat stupefied upon Yukio's monologue, unmoving but listening and observing. The pain around his chest felt like nothing in comparison to the burning in his soul. Of course there was also a fact that he was sitting before his twin bare chested and Yukio's eyes were staring at him. All in all, he started to feel self-concious about their closeness (that was normal when patient was treated by a doctor) and even that Yukio was his twin, he couldn't stop seeing him as somebody completely else.

Plus he couldn't help a tiny fidgeting at his twins intent eyes and every delicate touch of his fingers over his body – be it arm, shoulder, chest, or a face. Maybe that was a main reason why he kept on holding a breath.

When Yukio snapped back to reality and realised he was staring at Rin's chest, he closed his eyes and then pushed his glasses up. With a deliberately slow movements his hand reached towards a jar with lotion for cuts&scratches and took some of it on his fingers. Thank god he didn't glance at Rin once as he'd see a very hard-trying to be calm and composed older twin. Not that Rin's tail was lying behind him, only it's tip fidgeting from pent up frustration.

Thankfully Yukio worked fast with his palm over Rin's chest and sooner than later, Rin's torture was over and he could put his t-shirt back on. However as oblivious as both of them sometimes were neither could omiss the tense atmosphere that was in the room.

"Okay, done. Now your turn Yukio" said Rin, cutting the thick tension with his words. However all he got in reply was Yukio closing up the lotion in his desk drawer. That got Rin somehow confused and he cocked his head to the side, arms crossed. "Ne, four-eyes, did you hear what I said? It's your turn."

Yukio brushed him off with a half-glance. "I'm okay, cuts will heal in time. Besides it wasn't me who's lungs got bruised but you, nii-san."

Rin huffed, almost glaring at his twin. "Doesn't mean you _don't_ need to be checked as well."

"Actually" Yukio sighed, his tail whipping behind him. "I've checked myself in the bathrooms before I came to the room. Seeing as I didn't have much bruises, I figured I don't need to tend to them. They will heal in no-time."

That wasn't the answer Rin expected and he felt his eye twitch with irritation. However before he could say anything else, Yukio stood up and stretched little before he went out of their room and left him to himself. Now alone, Rin snarled underneath his breath. He was getting to the point of taking his hair out at Yukio's obliviousness to the tension. The worst thing was that he not only felt like an idiot upon catching those strange vibes that were between them but also that it frustrated him, to the point where he needed to look at his twin and/or say anything to keep him aware of it.

Take an example, right now. After Yukio walked out their room it took Rin entire sixty seconds to be on the feet and march down to their unofficial 'living room' where his twin probably strode off to. Of course knowing good enough as he did Yukio, he was there – sitting by _kotatsu_ and staring at the candles with look of pure concentration upon his face.

At first Rin wanted to laugh out at the view but then something stopped him from doing so, so he ended up standing in the middle of the room – staring at the brown head of his twin, completely silent.

That is until Yukio faced him, impassive as always. "Yes, nii-san?" he asked, waiting for any kind of explanation on his appearing. "Do you need something?"

Rin opened his mouth but closed it almost instantly. Why did he came down there? He should leave Yukio alone to figure out his exercise but then it hit him, he never said what was the trigger to unlock his powers. So with sudden flare of self-confidence his face broke into a cheshire-alike grin.

"I came to help you" he said, crossing his arms and walking towards a sofa that was not far from the table. He plopped himself unceremoniously on it, eyeing his twin still smiling.

Yukio's eyebrow twitched. "I'm listening" he stated after a few too long moments of silent staring from Rin's, plus his grin somehow unnerved him.

Rin as to him, nodded. "So, the trigger!" he mentioned, jumping to his feet, his tail now curling in excitement. "Yukio, all you have to do is look at the candles but _feel_ as if you were about to shoot them."

By now his twin exhaled, sweatdropping. "That's going to help me? ( _by now I don't think even god is going to... oh wait_ )"

Rin only nodded vigorously and leaned down towards his brother. "Of course! I told you that being half-demon is based on emotions didn't I? So, use the knowledge, I know you can."

Yukio glanced back at the candles, narrowing his eyes. "I don't expect it to work."

But Rin didn't really care about it ( _he knew he was right! damnit_ ), as he shrugged and made a way towards the shelf where their mangas stood silently, waiting for one of brothers to reach for them. Upon coming closer he puffed his cheeks, let his finger slide through various titles and then he inwardly cheered when he found his all-time favourite volume (even though Yukio as impassive as he is, didn't even spare a glance at that title). Like a little kid that just got his Christmas present ahead of time, he strode back to the sofa and plopped on it – manga in hands, grin plastered on face.

It took around an hour before the quiet sound of flipping pages stopped. However it took only thirty seconds more for Rin to flip on his stomach to observe Yukio. Somehow his eyes couldn't stop from plastering on him, mainly because he was the only soul alive around. Besides, Rin didn't expect their learning sessions to look like this, boredom that he felt in moments like this was gnawing at him to do something or worse... say.

Rin groaned silently to himself but at the same moment he felt something spike up – or he should say his flames. He couldn't explain what happened but suddenly his flames roared within his soul and damn – they were strong. Burning sensation bubbled in him and he was almost sure he saw a strange impulse that slid on their bond. That was the exact moment when he realised that the tug on his pinky was back – but it didn't hurt this time.

Slowly he sat up on the sofa and his eyes widened at the view of Yukio's burning candles. The sudden bubble of joy with the mix of burn of his fire made him light-headed and before he contemplated what was he doing – he plunged at Yukio, effectively knocking his breath out and almost crushed him in bear hug.

"You made it! You made it!" he cheered, holding his twin even closer – the heat from both of their bodies brushing against each other. "I knew it! I knew you can do it!"

Rin continued to hug his brother but after awhile he realised what he was doing and what Yukio wasn't – because he never hugged back, his entire body stiff and rigid. As if the thought finally settled in Rin's mind, he jumped back to his feet laughing and scratching at his head. He apparently got a bit carried on, didn't he?

Trying to ease the tension, he clapped Yukio on his shoulder. "Gratz, four-eyes! So now that you managed to light them it's gonna be walk in the park to concentrate for middle one! Keep up with the good job then, I'm off."

When Rin turned on his heel, he felt that he was sweating a bit too much over the simple hug, and he even babbled like some lovesick teenage-girl. It was all Yukio's fault though, he should tell him that he managed to light the candles but no, he choose not to tell. Stomping somehow robotically towards exit his back stiffened upon hearing his twin's voice.

"Nii-san..?"

He turned around, acting as cool as he could but it was difficult to do so when his entire being seemed in a whirlwind of emotions. However when his eyes locked onto his twins, he pondered for a second why did his face was so flustered. He couldn't look into his stupid impulsive hug as something more, could he? Smiling automatically, he gulped and waited.

And then he saw it, as Yukio's beet-red face turned whiter than winter's snow. Then as if in motion-captured film, his twin stood up facing him – staring more intently than he ever did at him. A shaky finger tediously pointed at him and Rin managed to blink off the strange situation. After looking around himself, he scratched his head in confusion at what was Yukio pointing at.

"Y-you..." whimpered Yukio, his eye twitching and pink colour slowly adoring his white face. "Th-th-the- THE THREAD?!" he finally burst out, his calm façade completely gone.

Rin flinched back at sudden voice attack but quickly overcame it, sighing and scratching at his chin this time. "U-ugh..." he smiled a broken smile that looked more like grimace. "Yeah, the thread. I know about it... Wait... what?! You see it too?!"

Yukio gulped, looking very worried all of a sudden. "Yes, the thread! As in a tiny, barely visible red thread that goes around yours hand and... and... and mine!" he threw out, clutching at his hair with both hands. He started to pace around and then snapped his face toward Rin again. "Wait? H-how long-?"

By now Yukio's outburst got Rin reeling a bit, he couldn't understand what was so strange that they were bond _literally_ by a red thread? His brother was clearly overreacting but he answered his question anyway.

"I know... About few months, why?"

This time Yukio's eyes widened so much his irises almost disappeared. "You mean you knew about it for months and never told me?"

He exhaled, still confused about all the fuss. "Well, I wanted to but it always slipped my mind" he shrugged his shoulder in bliss ignorance and finally turned to the exit. "What's all the fuss about it? It doesn't hurt anybody, nor makes any difference to us, does it? Besides..." he stared at the plain doors, thinking about that day back. "It told me that you're alive, it lead me to you. So I guess I owe something that little red bugger ( _even though it was a pain in the ass sometimes_ )."

He reached for doorknob and pressed it but before he managed to step out, he was showed into the doors and sharply turned around by a very-angry looking Yukio, who seemed to be seething silently. Goddamnit, his brother could be scary when he wanted to.

"Four-eyes?!" he snapped at Yukio, who had him pinned and apparently wasn't going to let go any time soon. Even worse, he moved closer, his eyes glowing with destruction. "Wh-what?!"

When Yukio finally spoke he looked very disturbed. "Do you even know what that thread means?" he asked, his hands curling on Rin's shoulders.

Rin of course tried to remember but it was a futile thing to do so he gulped and then smiled, masking his building fright. "W-well..." his tail swayed behind him. "Not really. Did we even had it in classes?"

At that Yukio's hands pressed harder and his face hid behind his fringe. "So..." he spoke, calmly, deadly almost. "You want to tell me you don't remember anything about bonds of any kind?"

Laughing a little he tried to sway away his twin off himself to no use, but he got an glare that almost send him to the Gehenna on the spot though. "Ne, ne... Yukio" he tried once again, this time waving his hands in air. "You know how it is with me and school. Can't you just tell me what made you so freak out about it?"

"You want me to tell you?" asked Yukio finally showing his face – scared, wide-eyed as he let go of his shoulders. "Very well then, if you ask for it..." he added and back-stepped only to start to pace around once more.

Rin's heartbeat that was sky-rocketing slowly came back to normal and he breathed out in relief.

"There are two kinds of bonds, nii-san" spoke Yukio, who stopped before _kotatsu_ , his eyes on the still burning candles. "First kind of bond is the bond between master and slave or more known as the bond between tamer and familiar, two strangers who never had a connection. It's made by simple obedience and goes only one way, unless the second party agrees to fully bind themselves together. The second kind of bonds is..." he breathed out, his hand reaching eyeglasses and pinching his nose bridge. "The second kind is made at the birth, no one has any mean in changing it until one of the party dies beforehand full-binding themselves."

"So..?" Rin piped in, completely baffled. "You can't mean that one of us is like a slave to the other?!" he suddenly burst out, but then he wondered if it was so bad if Yukio was his slave? Hm...

"No. It's different. The first kind is that of co-workers. The second is that of lovers."

Time stopped in Rin's mind but he'd bet he still heard a ticking of a clock. His brain however seemed to go into override as the words finally clicked.

"LOVERS?!" he screamed, his jaw hanging, his eyes wide. "You gotta tell me you're kidding, right? Four-eyes? RIGHT?!"

It wasn't happening or so he wanted to believe in. It was almost illogical that this tiny net that went between him and Yukio was that of lovers? Their bond meant an fucking incestuous relationship! Impossible! He couldn't get his mind around it but now he understood his twins outburst.

But didn't it mean that Yukio was more than disgusted with an even thought of... Rin snapped his eyes shut and growled under breath. _Fucking perfect!_

Yukio apparently in mean time calmed himself enough to be a voice of the reason as he spoke. "Well..." he cleared his throat. "That explains a lot actually" he added as if in afterthought. "But it is not as if any of us actually was going to bind us further than we already are."

Rin saw a tiny fidget of his twins hands and grumped. "Of course we don't!" he said furiously though his flames were asking for something completely different. "Don't be absurd."

Now was Yukio's clue to snap his face up, beet-red again and a bit spluttering. "I am absurd! The thought never crossed my mind!"

Rin gritted his teeth but somehow in his blind anger he felt first pricks of tears around his eyes. "Good" he snapped, clenching fists and trying to calm his breathing. "At least we got it off our chests" he added, his voice rugged. "Well..." he straightened and smiled lopsidedly. "Neither of us will ever act on it. What about the consequences?"

Yukio's head cocked and then he lost himself in thought. "Not that I read of any. It's like you say, we don't have to act on it, it's just that... _a string of fate_. I never knew we were connected in that way."

Now that the main tension went away, Rin let himself calm down bit more. Still there were thoughts gnawing at his mind. "I didn't either nor I did know that it's the bond of... _lovers_ " he saw as Yukio flinched over the word and clenched his teeth. "Anyways... we're brothers, we can't... nor want to fullfill the binding. We're going to leave it as it is, ignore it. Damn it, this is disturbing."

Yukio nodded. "Yes, it is. But like you said we won't act on it, we'll ignore it. I guess, if we lived with it for the past seventeen years without knowledge then it doesn't affect anybody. We should be fine."

"Yeah, fine" grumbled Rin more to himself than to Yukio but the other heard anyway. One way or another, he somehow didn't want to be in the same room as his twin so he turned on his heel. "I'll go take a nap, wake me for supper..."

With those words Rin practically stormed out from living-room, knowing that the thin relationship he had with Yukio just crushed like an ice. On his way to their dormitory he only hoped that his brother won't leave him, once they will be out in the open.

As if his twisted love wasn't enough already, there must've came that stupid bond.

Before he knew, his back hit soft bed and his eyes closed. He was really exhausted and now when new facts came up to the light he didn't want nothing more than sink back into darkness. While his thoughts fought between themselves, he let himself slowly drift off into dreamland. At least there he was obliviously happy.

_Demon's don't have boundaries. Human, demon, brother or mother, for us everybody is the same._


	7. Chapter 7

" _Never borrow trouble, the payback's a bitch._ "  
― Josh Stern.

* * *

Throaty, constantly shuddering breaths slowly roused Rin from sleep. Sounds of crumbing sheets coming from across the room didn't left much to wonder as to who was in that bed, probably having a nightmare of his lifetime.

But it made him aware that he felt quite cold and that it was too dark for it to be still day. Sighing, almost heavily Rin sat on his bed, facing window. Little specks of lights shone on the dark sky, silver moonlight kept on falling in strokes into their room and he knew that Yukio was prolly disgusted enough of him to not even try to wake him for a supper.

That thought stung but he only exhaled through nose, running hands over his still groggy head. Why the heck would it matter to him if Yukio would start to avoid him if neither of them were actually going to act on the bloody bond they shared? It was stupid. Kind of like five-year-old kid stupid, really. So... yeah he might've some ugly, unconventional dreams with his twin as the main protagonist in them but it didn't meant he was going to make them reality.

Yeah, that was it. They shared that stupid bond but that was it, nothing more. Thinking more about their situation, maybe it was a good thing to happen to them. If they were strong enough they'll get even closer to each other, emotionally speaking. Yeah, he could work around their bond – as a good older brother that he was. Especially that he certainly wasn't going to lose Yukio, not if his life depended on it. He just barely got the guy back, for fuck sakes!

Scratching at his dark-haired head he frowned when another wriggle came from Yukio's bed, he stood however when a throaty groan followed.

"Yukio?" he asked, squinting his eyes towards his brothers silhouette. In answer another groan was heard. "Are you having a nightmare?" he added, slowly stepping towards Yukio's bed.

From place where he stood he hasn't been able to see his twins face which was snuggling into pillow, hiding from prying eyes. Nonetheless as long as Rin known his brother, he knew something was wrong. With a quick, fluid move he reached for Yukio's upper arm to shake him lightly.

Another groan and then a shudder.

Now that was worrying, as Yukio rarely gotten sick. Not even trying to be gentle at least, he practically yanked other but once again without any response.

"Ne, four-eyes!" this time he said, loudly.

When he still didn't got an answer he finally pushed Yukio onto his back and promptly put his forehead over his brother's, a timely trick of checking for fever. And damn! He hissed under breath at almost scalding heat rolling off from Yukio. Damn four-eyes had a fever, of all times exactly now. No, it wasn't as if he never took care of his twin when sick, just it was such rare occurrences that he'd forget most of times that them getting ill was still a possibility.

With narrowed eyes and one more hiss he leaned back, frowning. What he was supposed to do now? Yukio was clearly ill and he briefly wondered if there would be any kind of medicine in this goddamn place, not that he'd believe there would.

"What I am supposed to do now?" he pondered, looking at Yukio's shuddering body. As if to check his brother's illness further he reached for hand but dropped it as quickly as grasped it – ice cold to the touch. "Damnit!"

A growl escaped his mouth, as he tried to remember anything that could help fight off the fever. Common sense... Common sense... Common sense! Yes, he was on a good trail so far. He knew he need to lower the fever, how...

"Nii-san—?"

In a blink he was crouching next to Yukio, who half-opened his eyes and was watching him intently. Seeing him at least to some degree concious he cheered inwardly that fever wasn't that bad yet, however whatever he wanted to believe in fled straight outta window when he saw his brother's eyes. Yes, they were glazed all over but that detail wasn't important at all because the red tint that seemed to shine from between teal irises made his throat go suddenly very dry.

At first he flinched but then something occurred to him - that maybe, just maybe this fever had something to do with Yukio's success with the candles? It was irrational though, right? It couldn't be that.

"W—water."

Yukio's hoarse voice cut through his trail of thoughts. He wanted water? Oh, yeah, that was it. Water to cool him off enough for fever to drop. Finally grasping the idea of fighting with fever, he stood onto his feet.

"I'll bring you some" he said, nodding – not that Yukio have seen it. Then as if instinctively he reached for crumbled sheets and pulled them back up, almost to his brother's chin. He remembered to do that much, and besides head that you could sizzle bacon on, the rest of Yukio was cold.

"Besides you're thinking way too much, four-eyes, it's finally got to your head."

A bit less worried, he turned on his heel and sprinted to kitchen. Once there he took two bottles of mineral water and glass but then he stopped himself. Wouldn't it be better if he made a cold compress too? With a silent moan on his way back to the room he also stepped by bathroom to pour water into bowl and took a small rag that was mostly unused by neither of them.

Once back in their room, well equipped like that he crossed the threshold between him and Yukio in almost blink of an eye, crouching next to his twin and pouring a bit of mineral water into glass.

"Yukio" he stated, lightly tapping his brother on shoulder, glass in other hand. "Water."

Yukio's eyes barely opened but he managed to drink it with Rin's help. Not that the position was awkward with Rin's arms holding him upwards as he apparently didn't have a strength to do any kind of movement on his own.

When glass was empty Rin grinned happily that Yukio compiled and de facto hasn't had that high of a fever. Still reeling in the feeling of pride he took his time, going back into crouching position, dipping rag into cold water. His hands chilled at the contact with liquid but thankfully it didn't take him long to wring out most of the water from it, folding it neatly afterwards. It felt nice to help like that, in the most mundane things – that always would remind him of their human heritage.

They migh've demon blood coursing through their veins but they weren't invincible.

Especially not their hearts.

Quite content with himself he put the rag on Yukio's forehead, smiling little. Unfortunately his smile slipped off once he realised that his twin was staring at him with such intense gaze that he felt as if he was trying to read what's on his mind. Now that would be a problem, furthermore he couldn't help the slow rise of heat on his cheeks.

_Stupid!_

Blinking harshly, he dipped his head down, standing.

"Sleep" he ordered, keeping his voice as steady as he could. His heart on the other hand racing like mad. "I'll be here if you need something, just call me" he added, pretty happy that it didn't sound as bad as he feared it might. With a long sigh, he trashed his dark locks and then turned towards his bed.

Sleeping was the last thing on his mind but he knew Yukio needed it, just like he needed him. Cursing inwardly, he lied down – facing wall and closed his eyes. Maybe he'd be able to catch some more sleep after all?

After taking another deep breath, he willed his heart to stop pounding in his chest. If it was that easy to erase the vision of Yukio's hungry stare from his memory too... then he wouldn't have to worry.

About himself.

Or rather what that look seemed to wake in him. Of course he never touched any kind of drugs in his life but he was pretty sure they made people feel similar wanton for things or people like he felt upon seeing his brother's eyes. Grinding his teeth together, he curled himself a bit tighter trying to think about anything else, anything really, just not Yukio.

But the damned idiot was turning in the bed across him, his breaths were coming off in harsh puffs and goddamnit!

Before he could stop himself he was stomping towards his twin, his shadow looming over Yukio's furrowed features like a hunter ready to strike his prey and the next thing he knows is his twins hand grabbing his shirt and pulling slightly.

"C—cold" muttered Yukio, half-stare wandering over him as if he was looking for something. "Stay—?"

Rin gulped loudly. "What?" he asked incredulously and blinked.

Yukio in a way of replying only tugged on his shirt again. "Warmer t—together."

With a sharp breath and by now wide-opened eyes, Rin was shaking. "What the hell, four-eyes?!" he burst out, raving. Million scenarios in his mind rolling around and making him blush and sputter. "It's not funny, ya need sleep! So go to sleep!"

Yukio's stare only seemed to become harsher. "I n—need you to w—warm me up..." he said through clenched teeth, shivering.

Rin was taken aback by that. "You'll be fine on your own! You don't need me—!"

"P—please."

Shutting his mouth, Rin gulped looking at Yukio. Yes, he was shivering and he knew it but this... this was madness. He couldn't do it, he might've lose it with his brother so close, in a bed, probably snuggled up together. His body was twitching, his tail wagging loosely as he tried to gather all the strength he had, taking a deep breath.

And then compiled.

It was like a faze, when he crawled across Yukio – for a second halting, his hands and knees on both sides of his twin, realisation settling in – but he managed to hold to his will. Tongue darted outside his very dry lips to moisten them as he raised bedsheets to settle next to Yukio.

Yukio almost instantly latched to him, desperately clutching to his shirt, head nestling in the crook of his neck and Rin could only gulp. This must've been some kind of a very sick joke, or maybe they just stepped on some god's toes and this was his punishment.

His heart was beating it's way out his chest and he knew Yukio felt it too, that damn detail made him so fucking angry because aside from how he felt in this very wrong situation, his brother wasn't even aware of anything that was happening – or how strongly he made him feel in this particular position.

All he could do, was trying to keep cool and wait until Yukio would fall asleep. With that in mind, he closed eyes, wriggling his arm around his twin's heavy person into a bit more comfortable position.

Silence filled the room, for a moment.

Until he felt Yukio's hair brush against his chin and his eyes flew open at that, it was even worse when sudden peck caressed his throat. Now this was getting out of hand. Whatever was going on in Yukio's head was wrong on so many levels – with him actually enjoying the motions his twin was making over his sensitive throat.

Willing himself once again, Rin's breath hitched when a nibble was made and that actually shook him out enough of his stupor to slightly move away from Yukio.

"What the hell—?" he croaked and instantly hated how his voice cracked at the ends. He was more than certainly not _immune_ to that kind of stimulation.

But then again as he glared at his stupid clearly out-of-his-mind twin, the fire that burned within him roared with such insensitivity that he lost that last grasp over his demonic side. The switch went off and now his own red-dimmed eyes stared at the most precious person ever, wanting. The wanton was clear on both of their faces, he was more than sure of that – as he slowly leaned forward, his human side fading away more and more with each second.

As that one bridge was crossed, the other one burned, leaving ashes in it's wake – a hollow reminder of what it was once.

And somehow the distance between him and Yukio disappeared easily as he leaned forward to melt their lips together in a most-mind-blowing kiss he ever had. At first it was awkward smash of mouths one over the other but quickly became more languid and sure. There was pressure on one side and obedience on the other, half-closed eyes staring into the most handsome face he ever saw.

The kiss was natural even if sloppy a bit but it felt as if they were made for it, their lips fitting perfectly into each other's – even moving in a tandem.

The fire was constantly spreading, the wanton becoming unbearable and their lips parted.

 _More_.

For a second, Rin wondered how was that Yukio could kiss like that, he didn't have any experience just like he hadn't either. Yet his twin would with such passion, pressing harder, making his body pulse with a raging need to touch and taste and... It never was this good, not even in his dreams.

Just as he made another dip to claim Yukio's lips, he suddenly had a flash of his conscience and remembered that _this_ wasn't a fucking wet dream. It was real, oh so fucking real! His entire being stilled, rigid and so fucking much terrified.

What has he done? It was... it...

He pressed his eyelids together as if in searing pain, hissing and breathed out, trying to calm himself. He still felt the urge, the all-consuming fire that wanted more... and more but he couldn't let that happen.

This was bad enough already.

His eyes snapped open and he shakily breathed, Yukio seemingly finally choosing to fall asleep curling at his side. At least he had one problem less for now, but he really hoped his brother wouldn't remember a thing in the morning though.

Hopefully he'll be lucky enough, if not...

He groaned under breath, face burning, his body aching and shivering. This was bad. Plus his twin was using him as his pillow, shit. The worst thing was that he wanted to scatter as far away as he could, to hide somewhere where nobody could find him because he... _enjoyed_ it far too much.

He was so fucking doomed.

And the most ironic thing about this situation was that Okumura Rin wasn't so sure if he really minded it. Because unbeknown to him, in the next seven minutes, he felt their mended flames sooth his torn morales as he slowly drifted into his first dreamless sleep in a week.

A tiny red thread that soundlessly entwined twins bodies shone in the moonlight, another strand appearing and braiding itself into it. Their bonding already started a long time ago and there was no stopping it, if they realised it or not.

It seemed fates decided to play with their lives for the one last time, laughing while Okumura twins slept soundly in the younger's bed.

* * *

Next day found Rin slowly nuzzling his face into a very familiar scented pillow. That smell, he knew it – that earthy notch that came with a breeze of fresh air and musk – it was definitely Yukio's but he didn't want to open his eyes, half-scared of what he might see on his brother's face.

However as much as he wanted to forget about the night, he couldn't. The memory of it was burned into his mind forever and he chuckled low in his throat, finally opening his eyelids.

As he figured Yukio was nowhere to be seen, the place he slept on long time cold.

Rin let his eyes blink few times at almost blinding sun rays that were falling through their windows. Subconsciously his tongue darted outside his lips, wetting them and then he continued to promptly blush over it. He remembered how chapped Yukio's lips were, but at the same time soft like cherry-blossom petals.

Fuck.

Not only week ago he hadn't kissed anybody, not even one girl and now? Now he was lusting after a guy, a GUY and his own flesh and bones, his BROTHER. How fucking sick in mind he was to enjoy the last nights almost full-blown make-out session?

And yet even that he had his doubts, his confusion – he woke up feeling far better than he had in ages. There was no painful tugs at his heart, there was no hidden fear in his eyes. Actually he felt rather good, happy and even content with himself.

Well, that was before he sat in the bed – sudden realisation coming over him that his throat kinda hurt ( _but he tried to massage the pain away_ ) and there was a very sticky situation in his boxers. Groaning, he trashed his hair red faced.

More or less, after he stopped freaking out about the fact that he soiled his boxers while in the same bed as Yukio, he grumbled his eyebrow twitching. Well then, a morning shower was a must that day and he was going to do exactly that, as he stood up and stretched slightly – his tail curling in a tandem with his muscles.

When he dug out a quite usable trousers, t-shirt and blouse he took first better pair of socks and boxers and went to take a nice, long, morning shower.

The stings in his throat however were really a pain, as he massaged it over and over again on his way to the showers.

Once there he dropped his yesterday's clothes and stepped into warm stream of water, his muscles relaxing.

Of course, Rin would never say it aloud but he loved long showers and apparently this one was one of them. And no it wasn't as if he stalled his face-to-face with Yukio, nope.

After what seemed to be ages ( _even for him_ ) he finally turned the water off and dried himself with a towel, which in the end landed on top of his head, partly obscuring his vision. He slowly put on his boxers, that hung low on his hips – the hipbones clearly visible and adoring his quite muscular stomach. With a sigh he reached for his trousers and t-shirt but before he tugged them on, he wiped excess steam from the mirror.

Five seconds later, he screeched – frantically leaning towards the offending item as if could erase the dark red spots from his throat.

"What—? is—? this—? Y—Yukio—?"

While his eyes were taking in all the gore of the bruises adoring right side of his throat he tried to catch a grasp of when and how and why... He was more than certain that those offending _things_ weren't there last night. No, he wasn't sure, he knew it.

But then again, when?

He hissed at his mirror image blinking, a sudden surge of embarrassment coming over him in a flash, a very fiery rage only a step later.

Before he knew what he's doing, he sprinted downstairs where Yukio was probably sitting up, doing his god-knows-what, clutching his forgotten clothes with a very ugly feeling settling in his gut.

Without a word of warning he kicked living room doors open, wheezing a bit – a craze in his eyes – and he went straight for his twin, jumping at him with a murder on mind. Yukio who had his back to him, was promptly plummeted to the ground with a loud thump but scrambling back into crouch instantly.

"What the hell?!" burst out Yukio, his head in a very prominent state of a bed-hair. "What was that for?!"

Words however weren't exactly received as Rin was still a very red-faced both from anger and embarrassment. As if to point that out, he pointed at his own throat – finger drifting frantically all over the side. "What the fuck is this?!"

At that his brother stare became a bit colder, old mask slipping back. "A... hickey?" he half-stated, half-asked.

"A HICKEY?! A HICKEY _S_ , FOUR-EYES! I HAVEN'T HAD THEM YESTERDAY!" he continued, now the other hand joining the first one in flailing around.

"Well, it's only your own fault!" shot back Yukio almost instantly, now also sporting quite a blush himself. "You should bloody know just as well what does your smell does— t—..."

He wheezed over his twins words, his hands shaking. "My fault—?! You've been the one to drag me into bed with you—!"

Oh god, he didn't meant it like that! Yet he felt as his blood pressure sky-rocketed, as his face burned and shit Yukio was now just as red faced as he was. Damnit all!

"I couldn't control it—! I felt like I was on fire, sorry for asking you for help!" Yukio spat, standing up, pushing his glasses upwards until a stray sun ray drifted across them. "Besides I remember-"

"NO" he growled, but it was more of a yell really. "Don't!"

Yukio's glasses flashed again and he was more than certain that he was not going to drop that any time soon. "I just felt like a—a payback was a right choice, considering everything that happened" he stated matter-of-factly, crossing his arms but keeping keen eyes on him.

And he gulped, his face contorting into a mocking resemblance of fear and confusion. "S—so you figured you'll give me a hickeys!" he blurted, not believing what was going on, and why the fuck Yukio was so invulnerable to it. "You do realise that what you did was so wrong on so many levels, don't you?"

And here it was, as Yukio's façade crumbled again, his eyes almost comically bugging out – his hair swaying with each words he spluttered next. "Well, like I said – you started it! I didn't try to make out with you in a middle of a night but then something stupid crossed your mind and you lost it... You..."

"Hey! I wasn't the one tugging at my shirt and _mewling_ 'please... stay...' but you! I just tried to help you, you were burning the fuck up and I panicked, okay?!"

When words quieted and they gazed at each other, the world seemed to cease to exist.

"Oh, shit" cursed Yukio, turning away and tugging at his hair. A clear frustration in a most uncondensed form coming from him in waves. "This is so wrong— This is bad, so bad— Nii-san, just— I think..."

Rin steeled himself, ready for the worst. This was it, the last straw – Yukio was going to leave him. He didn't want that, he didn't want to lose him like that. And yet he couldn't say a word, just stand over there – still in his boxers only – and count the seconds until his soul will be broken forever, distilled into nothingness.

"I mean— Look at us, it's wrong. This bond is wrong and it _grows_ – it's getting thicker, we can't let that happen. You know, I didn't want us to end up like this but I think we need to get out of each other's way— At least for some time."

Empty words engraved itself in his mind as he gulped but couldn't help but feel angry. His hand clutched the clothing harder and his jaw was moving on it's own. "No, I won't let you go Yukio. I just got you back, I can't— Please, don't."

Yukio shook his head sadly. "You know it's the right thing to do" he said with a remorse in his voice, then sighed. "How are we going to inform Pheles-san about— this" he added, waving hand between them.

He didn't care though and so he snorted, grinning. "We can't. We need to wait it up until the end of vacations."

A low-catcall whistle sounded just exactly second later and both boys jumped in shock, Rin actually staggered back – eyes catching a glimpse of a person they just spoke about – gulping. He however hadn't realised he was moving until he felt warm hands on his shoulder blades and caught a glimpse of a very cold-sweating twin.

He couldn't help his inner grin, it seemed that no matter what Yukio was saying the bond had the exact same effects on him, or maybe even stronger – seeing how flushed he became upon touching his bare skin.

"Yare-yare" sighed Mephisto, taking in the view before him and couldn't help his smug tone. "Things are going perfectly between you two I see, Shura-san was right" he clucked his tongue, as he let his eyes trail over Rin's state of clothe-less. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

Rin instantly shot back, his defences warding him off from stupidity of Mephisto Pheles or at least trying to. "What are ya doing here, clown?"

Mephisto's grin was sinister. "Oh, I'm sorry to bother. Once I'll notify you of the latest news I'll be outta your hair, so no worries Rin-kun, just be a little patient."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

This time Mephisto chuckled, his tongue caressing his bottom lip. "Oh nothing, really" he said nonchalantly, but let his eyes trail down his protegee's silhouette. That was until he glanced back at the other Okumura that stood in the room, face-blank and silent. "I just wondered— Third base already, Okumura-sensei?" he added as if in afterthought, smiling like a Cheshire-cat.

Rin frowned. "What the hell are you on about now? Stupid fluff-clown."

Mephisto barked with laughter. "Calm down boys, it's fine I don't mind. I see where this" here he pointed between twins "is going. I am pretty disappointed that it didn't start earlier, would be so much more fun then!"

At that Rin gulped, suddenly not liking what was Mephisto talking about. "What do ya mean?"

Another chuckle filled the pretty much silent and tense room. "Your bond of course."

"What—? You knew about it—?"

"Of course" stated Mephisto, looking intently at Rin as he let his eyes trail over a fine chest the boy sported. "Since you were born" he added, shrugging his shoulder. "This kind of bonds don't just go away. They cannot be contained nor stopped and they grow on their own, even if you" here he pointed his umbrella at twins "wouldn't do anything then one way or another you'd end up like this. It's like a very fine perpetuum mobile, once the cycle starts it doesn't ends. However" he paused, mulling over his next words. "The fact that Okumura-sensei is trying to incarcerate me with only his sight does point out that there is far more to the two of you than just pure lust."

At that Rin shook his head in denial but glanced at his brother and shit, Yukio looked fucking wild – there was even a slightest crank of corner of his lip and a very visible fang.

"Not to mention that you reek of each other already. Especially you Rin-kun."

Rin shuddered at that comment, slowly paling as he remembered about the clothes he forgot to put on his persona, still how would Mephisto know how they smelled?

"What—?" he asked intelligently and he heard as Yukio groaned in embarrassment at his idiocy.

Suddenly their protector shifted through space, looming over Rin with a strange light to his eyes and took a one, good, long sniffle. "You stink of Okumura-sensei, Rin-kun."

Now that got a silent sputter from Yukio, as Rin shuddered under Mephisto's gaze.

"However, like I said I came here to deliver a notice" Mephisto spoke, turning on his heel and stepping around the room, shouldering his umbrella like some king of a weapon. "A notice of Okumura-sensei's court session with the Vatican that will take a place next week" he said, with a air of easiness over the topic.

"What? Why? He's innocent!" burst out Rin, his muscles tensing.

Mephisto glanced at him from a corner of his eyes. "Okumura-sensei became Satan's vessel for a second time now, they have a right to be cautious."

"But it doesn't make sense?! Why now, why not bef—re?" Rin stopped himself, realisation dawning on him and he sighed. "Great then."

Yukio stepped up. "I'll go then."

Mephisto smirked, rounding on the younger Okumura. "Of course you will, otherwise I wouldn't tell you to go. Ah— one more thing, they will expect you to come too, Rin-kun."

Rin blinked, confused. "What for?"

Mephisto shrugged his shoulders, pouting. "Have no idea. Now though boys" he added, smacking his lips into a grin as he eyed twins. "As much as I didn't want to bother you in your free time I need to say I wouldn't mind to watch you if you'd be interested."

Grave silence followed Mephisto's statement, as twins processed over the commentary and then two red-faces stared at him in an outrage.

"What the hell, you perverted-ass-clown! Get the hell outta here or I will kick you myself" raved Rin, more than ready to try and save the little conscience he still had.

Mephisto dared to wink at him. "We're all demons here, Rin-kun. That would stay just between us three."

"You're off your rocker man" he muttered back, a real fear seeping through him. "You make my skin crawl..."

"Ah, that kind tastes the best."

Rin opened his lips to retort or scream at that stupid ass-clown to get the fuck as far away from him as he could when the sound of a barely-contained sneeze was becoming louder. Before he could however call out to Yukio to conceal the freaking sneeze it was already too late.

Blue flames incarnated the very last ( _and only_ ) cloth he was wearing and this time Mephisto barked with laugher, hardly trying to stop himself upon seeing the pure horror on his face. He felt as if the lasts of his pride were shattered as he slowly turned to face Yukio.

"W—why?" he croaked, sweating profusely – well knowing that his bare bottom was open to view, scorched front slowly slipping to the floor.

His twin was bright-red in the face, twitching but then he coughed into his fist and he... smirked? That goddamn four-eyes dared to smirk at him?

However as much as he wanted to kill his brother with his eyes, he was quite aware of his nakedness and snapped the hand with clothes over his crotch, other over his bottom.

"Third base, eh?" smirked Mephisto, still laughing but also ogling Rin. "I'll give ya that, boys. I'll be back next week, see ya then!" and with those parting words, he waved, sending a kiss towards Rin and disappeared in a puff of a pink cloud.

Rin felt cold but not shivering, quite the opposite he was livid. With a glare he rounded at Yukio, one hand pointing at him and sputtering. "What the hell was that?!"

His brother actually chuckled under breath. "Sorry, nii-san, couldn't resist."

"Did ye just—?!"

"Also you're flashing" added Yukio as if in afterthought, a real laughter slowly bubbling it's way out from him.

At that Rin snatched his hand back over his crotch, gritting teeth and lashing tail. "DAMN YOU, FOUR-EYES!" he roared, turning on his heel – stomping towards exit.

Just as the lock clicked behind him he heard a full-blown laugh going out in rivets from Yukio. Shit, he was so embarrassed and that idiot dared to laugh at him! It wasn't funny, as if... narrowing his eyes, he smirked devilishly – if Yukio was going to play dirty, so could he. And damn, the little conscience he had.

Fuck.

He was going to go all out on Yukio and now he was even more than motivated to win.

His pure, innocent twin just opened the literal Pandora's Box, and he was going to enjoy it even if it meant flashing him further until he'll beg him to come to him, like he did back in their room.


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

" _I'd love to change the world_  
But I don't know what to do  
So I'll leave it up to you..."

 _-_ Jetta, I'd love to change the world.

* * *

Clock ticked loudly in a chilly, seemingly uninhabited kitchen. Day wasn't bad, wasn't anything really – it was too quiet and stock-still even that a sky behind the window was blue and cloudless, even though sun was shining brightly and wind lightly swayed high trees. But maybe because it was _the day_ , than strange quietness practically was swallowing an entire building.

Back in their provisional living room, Rin couldn't stop himself from pacing back and forth. As it happened it was almost their time for Yukio's court session in Vatican. How so, you might ask? Well, for once a week passed way too fast, it blurred before his eyes more like it.

After the fiasco with Mephisto, when his anger dissipated - a cold, gut wrenching feeling started to settle in his body. At first he brushed it off, like he'd do with almost every other one but at some point he actually stopped dead in his tracks to realise that he was scared of what might become of Yukio.

 _Keeping_ that detail _to himself_ he still hovered around his twin like a plague, he was even reprimanded twice not to stare so openly at him, as it unnerved Yukio because of their bond. Fortunately he didn't care nor acknowledged it, being his persistent self – but a tad bit more affectionate than before. He'd brush their shoulders together by accident, stand a bit closer to Yukio than normally or would just simply look at him, drinking in the entire glory of his younger brother.

But, there was a side-effect to his antics as well, about whom he learned only after.

How he was supposed to know that he'd start to notice the tiniest quirks of his twin, or that he'd smile subconsciously while doing so. So, there were facts about Yukio known by many people but there was also that grey-zone that only came to the surface when they were alone.

And goddamnit, he loved that fact.

Like there were the times when his brother would lose his always cool and calm demeanour ( _not that he wasn't weirdly-wired like that from the birth_ ) and make the most ridiculous face, or when he'd start to actually sputter the tea all over himself, or when he'd sigh contently while reading his favourite manga, or...

Rin halted in his pacing, hands reaching to his wilder-than-everyday hair and tugged at it. He was shrieking internally, as he felt his heart beat faster and blood pressure jump at the same time. Goddamnit, he wasn't blushing just by thinking about his brother.

No.

Nope.

But the beating against his ribcage was unmistakable, it wasn't something he could ignore or shrug off as nothing. Especially that the same muscle that was trying to drill it's way out of his chest would freeze upon thought of losing Yukio.

Frowning, Rin let his tense neck and shoulders slump, groaning silently. His hands feel free, dangling, as he looked around the living room. His twin was nowhere to be seen, and yet it was almost time, wasn't it? Right now they should both be sitting down, waiting for that ass-clown Mephisto until he'd show up.

Tiredly he reached with his one hand towards his temples, massaging lightly while other hand somehow found it's way onto his waist. Damn, he was going through so much shit (internally) that he actually felt exhausted by doing nothing but worry. Because yes, he was worrying about the outcome of the trial.

Mephisto was right when he spoke that Yukio was possessed twice, he knew that it wasn't something to be taken lightly. He tasted first-handily the twisted and wicked ways of Satan, more than once now.

It never ended good, did it?

Yukio tried – no, not Yukio; _Satan_ – kill him twice. What if the third time was going to be the proverbial charm?

Rin gritted his teeth together, gulping. He shouldn't be thinking that now but it wasn't a topic to brush off, because yes – he realised – that it still was a possibility, and Vatican was aware of that also. Hence the court session. Nonetheless, a part of him wished they didn't have to go, wished that Yukio would never again be possessed and wished the court wouldn't sentence him to death.

Death.

Just as he gasped under his breath, his ears picked up onto opening doors. In a heartbeat, he rounded at his twin – that slowly walked into room, one hand at his glasses.

Those glasses.

"Pheles-san is still not here I see" said Yukio, skilfully cutting the trail of his jumbled thoughts. Upon one look at Rin's face, he blinked. "Is everything all right?"

Rin actually shook himself ( _kind of violently_ ) from his stupor. He cracked a smile, finally looking at his twin from head to toe and couldn't help but to smirk upon seeing that he left the tail out. Tail that was very slowly swaying.

"Ne, I see you left your tail out" he said, not really knowing what to talk about. At this point he'd be more that content with only watching his brother, coming to terms with his demonic heritage.

Yukio sighed as his tail swirled and slashed behind him, he moved. "I guess, I did. I actually understand now why would you just let it free, nii-san. It's quite uncomfortable in a long shot to keep it under shirt ( _~not to mention uncontrollable_ )."

Rin chuckled, his own tail wagging in long arcs. "Ha! I'm actually happy that you're saying that. I cannot wait the moment when you start wearing that long, heavy coat of yours again. That's going to be so much fun for you."

Glasses flashed, as his twin sat down at _kotatsu_ , arms crossing on the table surface. "Now that's evil. Do you really enjoy seeing me being that uncomfortable?" there was a pause with a sigh. "Also, as we're speaking about my uniform, I miss it. We'll need to talk with Pheles-san about the lack of clothes in my wardrobe. I cannot go around wearing your smelly-sweat-soaked-through outfits. It's off-putting" he ended with a shrug of his shoulders and shake of head.

Rin felt as the blood pressure arose in his veins. "Stop acting all mighty, four-eyes! Be happy that you have anything to wear at all! If wearing my clothes it so off-putting then feel free to walk around naked! See if I care!"

Yukio's eyebrow twitched in a tandem with his lips, a dark glow surrounding his eyes. "No. Knowing you, you'd just enjoy the view."

"What—? Oi, ye spotty and who's bloody throwing our freaking bond into our faces. It wasn't me ( _~this time_ ), Yukio. I might think you'd enjoy parading naked just as much!"

"Do you think I'd not notice what you're trying to do, nii-san?" asked Yukio, his voice suddenly sharp and eyes narrowing just little. "Since... the sneeze- _incident_... You're acting like some kicked-puppy, ogling me when you think I don't see, you even broke more than once my personal-space just to your enjoyment. Well, though luck, nii-san. I'm not going to be a source of your entertainment."

Rin growled, his teeth snapping shut as he cocked his head to the side. "Who said I was doing it for entertainment?" he snipped smoothly.

Three seconds later, as he realised what he just said, he felt as his ears burned and had his eyes wide-open. Thankfully he was able to hide his face from his twin but it didn't really matter, as he glanced back at Yukio and saw him sitting completely stiff, his lips slightly parted, eyes open and staring with a tiniest blush on his nose and cheeks.

As if anything, the cuteness of his brother was multiplied by the fact that he was wearing his clothes, a loose sweater thrown over white, a bit crumbled white school shit and he felt so angry at himself, that his own heart and body were betraying him right at this moment.

"I— I didn't—oi" he stuttered, getting angrier by a second. "Stop looking at me like that, four-eyes!" he finally snapped, fully turning around at his twin, pointing finger between where teal eyes would've been. "You haven't heard that!"

Yukio blinked but did not smile, nor had any expression either. "Of course, it's the doing of the bond, nii-san. One of reasons why I didn't want us to be stuck together like this was because the more we're exposed to it, the worse symptoms we're going to get."

Puffing and huffing, Rin felt as his jaw literally hit the floor. "How can you talk about it so calmly?! It's not fair! And you're making it sound as if we're ill or something?!"

With a groan, his brother pushed his glasses up. "It's because we're. It's not normal to lust after your own kin... But this last week, nii-san, I've seen how our bond is affecting _you_. Even more, as much as I tried to knock-the-idea out of your head, you'd just shrug it off and continue on your merry way. Don't get me wrong, you're my brother and yes, yes I—I care about you but I can't let you breach the boundary between..."

Through entire tirade spilling from his brother's lips, Rin kept on twitching nervously until the words sunk in and he realised that Yukio's explanation was well, biased. Snapping, he stomped angrily his foot, balling hands into fists. "Now you're making me sound like some perverted-brocon! Well, I am not! Besides, I know for a fact" here he pointed to his still-bruised throat "that you're affected by our bond just as well, if not more!"

Yukio snipped under breath. "I thought it wouldn't take a genius to figure that one out ( _~really, nii-san?_ ). Yes, all right, I am aware of the effects our situation is having on me, just as good as you are. However for some strange reason you keep on prodding them."

Well, crap. Yukio knew, all along, that he was trying to make him do something about the pent-up frustration that was floating between them for the past week. Great. That left Rin with really small repertoire of choices to pick, because basically all his effort might've just plainly evaporated on the first day of his little personal revenge.

"And I believe I know what caused such a response from you" continued his brother, now small content smile adoring his cheek. "You've been trying to get back at me for the sneeze-incident. Well, I'm sorry that I had that particular need to sneeze at that particular time. I haven't got any idea it could end up with you naked, and Mephisto ogling your junk. I'm really sorry about that."

If not for his demonic heritage, Rin could've bet that his teeth would be crushed a long time ago with the strength he put into gritting them together.

"Hey four-eyes, it's not over yet!" he growled, his fist shaking at the prone form of his twin. "I'll get back on you one of these days and you won't even know it!"

Yukio's chuckled under breath. "Of course you will" he agreed, but the words dripped with sarcasm.

"Argh— you!"

"Tche."

Rin froze, suddenly all the strength to fight burst like a bubble around him. He actually recognized that sound, and if he was correct – the owner was standing just behind him. After internal battle, he blinked – he hoped calmly – and slowly turned around to be welcomed by a Mephisto Pheles.

"You're adorable."

"Pheles-san" welcomed instantly Yukio, standing up and bowing a little. Rin who was still stupefied, crumbled to the floor – white faced. "O-oi— Nii-san!" Yukio snapped, walking towards the body and shaking him lightly. "It's rude! Wake up!"

Mephisto sighed, his face twisted in a smirk that was hidden behind a hand but he couldn't help himself at the view. "So moe!"

That partially shook Rin back to earth, as his eyes finally caught a sight of his twin practically shoving him back and forth. Shakily he held his hand up, view orbiting around him. "I'm okay, Yukio."

His twin sighed and then promptly hit him upside-head. "You didn't even welcome Pheles-san, nii-san. How rude can you get?"

At that Rin growled silently but then smirked at realisation that his younger brother still held his shoulders. He didn't care if his past tries backfired on him, there was Mephisto with them and he wanted to get his revenge on Yukio. There was no better time than right there, right now. So he made his mind up and moved, into his twins personal space and looked him straight in the eyes. Sticking his tongue out, he liberally moisturised his lips – eyes never going off Yukio's, surprised ones.

There was maybe an inch or two between them and Rin clearly saw the tiniest freckles that adored his brothers cute face, beside the three moles that stood out on his nice, soft looking face.

"The game is on" he dared to whisper, his hands _accidentally_ brushing tense thighs as he stood up with the most smug expression he could muster. Even his tail seemed to agree with the challenge that was just thrown down at Yukio, as it swiped smoothly – it's end curling little, as if mocking.

His brother however was stunned into stillness, unmoving and unresponsive or at least was for the first ten seconds before his pale cheek started to fill up with colour.

A very tense silence filled the room but Yukio didn't try to cut it short, well neither wanted he – as Yukio looked so... _appealing_ to him. Sprawled on the floor, with a sweater slipped from one shoulder to pool around his hand and that goddamn shirt's collar a bit askew – showing his adam apple as it bubbled up and down...

 _Shit_.

Jesus, he wasn't ogling Yukio just now, was he?

A cough brought him back from his tiny, inner panic attack and he felt as his face arose with heat.

"I'd be more than happy for us to stay here like this, but unfortunately it's time for us to go. Court session is about to happen in twenty minutes." Two blank faces turned to stare at him, and he – Mephisto chuckled. "Young love is so _kawaii_ , all that flushes, all that denial, all that lust" he muttered, his eyes firstly scanning older Okumura but in the end snapping to half-sprawled one, or rather a kind-off obvious slowly raising tent in the boy's trousers. "All that frustration... It's sweet scent is so good, and it stays for so long..."

"What the heck are you talking about fluff-clown?!" growled Rin, blinking. He apparently got over his heat-rush and didn't really understand a word demon said.

Mephisto clucked his tongue, looking back at him. "Nothing important, Rin-kun. I've just came to pick you up. So... Okumura-sensei?" he added, with a wink towards other Okumura.

Yukio's crestfallen face slowly morphed back to it's usual blankness, yet his sharp eyes snapped towards Rin and he half-glared. "Yes, Pheles-san? I am ready" he added, slowly standing up and pulling the sweater back on. After few strokes of his hands through his hair he nodded.

Rin meanwhile was trying to get a grip on his sudden wave of awareness that they were going to a court. Thankfully, more or less, Mephisto knew how to get him back on track as he kept watching Yukio, as he dared to wink at him!

The sudden surge of his inner beast – the one that was connected most by their bond – snarled, flaring it's fiery head to the world. But he knew it wasn't the time for his personal turmoil to rise to the surface, as there was something much more important now.

And that was Yukio's trial in Vatican.

With a silent growl, and a wink from Mephisto – the three of them exited the room.

* * *

Rin's keen and albeit narrowed eyes slid slowly around the place, he couldn't help but shudder at emptiness of the room, not to mention it's whiteness. Thinking more about the clear black and white settlement where Yukio's trial was held, he wondered if the Grigori would actually let him go away free without any harsher consequences from there.

It seemed as if the diverseness of the room was trying to tell a statement in itself.

As if world existed only in black and white, while apparently both he and Yukio didn't – never truly did – as they belonged in the grey. It was funny in a way that he dropped his humanity to save his father and Yukio left his to save him. Such vicious circle of their fates, and someone somewhere was probably laughing loudly at their misery.

Still, place was completely unnerving and he was cold-sweating, looking at the trial that was going on.

To his utmost surprise, as much as he berated himself for even thinking such thing – he was glad that they had Mephisto on their side, because apparently he was good at talking with Grigori – which showed in the short, curt replies from the three sages.

All in all Yukio's case wasn't lost, he would dare to think it was far away from it. Especially because his brother, a smart lad that he was very quickly caught a drift of Mephisto's shenanigans and practically went with the flow ( _never letting his stick-in-a-mud drop out though_ ).

"Scaredy-cat is looking healthy. Yer feeding him good I see. I'm glad."

With a quiet snort, he crossed his arms sparing Shura a look. Oh yeah, he almost forgot that she was there too, for whatever reason – same as him. It was nice to finally go out from that bubble they were stuck in for a month but somehow he couldn't put his finger on very different emotion that was slowly spreading from within when around Shura.

Their last spar was quite interesting, so to speak. His initial reactions even more so but that put a damp on him, as he felt his fingers itching for some kind of friction, on his Kurikara.

Not to mention Shura kept on looking at Yukio with those disinterested eyes of hers, and he'd bet she was thinking something while doing so.

"Why are you here, once again?" he couldn't help but to ask, his irritation clear in voice.

Shura shrugged nonchalantly, eyes wide and pouting. "Like I said before I haven't the slightest. Sages wanted me here, Pheles dragged me here and the only thing I know it has something to do with you two honeybirds."

He cringed at the nickname, hearing it up in the open where everybody could hear it seemed way too embarrassing, even in his standards. "We're not honeybirds. So stop calling me and Yukio honeybirds. People might get the wrong idea."

At that Shura made an act of turning around and squinting her eyes, looking for said people. "What people?" she asked, amused. There was a smile on her face, when she spoke on. "Maybe you should check your eyesight, Rin-kun."

Blood in his veins boiled, fingers itched even more than before. "I just stated that you saying it in the public might get misunderstood. Besides it's embarrassing to be called anything that has to do with Yukio."

"Are you ashamed?"

Sudden question stunned him into silence. "O—of what?"

"Of Yukio."

"What?!"

Shura shrugged, but smile was gone and she looked back at him with sharpness in her eyes. "Are you ashamed of Yukio?"

"What?! No! I never said anything like that!"

"Then what's the problem in me calling you two honeybirds? Yer almost inseparable y'know, wherever you were so was Yukio."

Yes, that was true – she had a point. But it was all the fault of their twisted fates that were linked from their birth. Besides before all the demon crap, both of them lived a pretty mundane life, didn't they?

Well, no.

Not really.

Not Yukio at least.

Jesus, his brother lived the life he was living after taking that bloody Kurikara out of sheathe years before him. Only now it occurred to him that his twin was scarred by him and never said anything, that he kept such huge secret away from him and he never realised.

His throat felt dry, tightening.

"No. We're not inseparable. It was just a way of keeping a tab on me so I wont go on a killing spree or something..." he said, surge of chill going down his spine.

It was true and he was so blind. No, no, it wasn't that. Maybe he didn't want to see it, to understand it.

What if Yukio pulled that trigger on him back in the classroom? What if Yukio really hated him and _he_ made him throw away the lasts of his own humanity?

With a coldness clutching painfully his heart he looked up at the silhouette of his twin, standing straight and nodding curtly at whatever Grigori were saying, Mephisto by his side.

Only now he realised there was still a huge gap between them and their worlds. Even though they were twins, even though both of them stepped ( _or rather were shoved_ ) into the gray, they never were close. Not before all exorcist crap popped out of nowhere, not after and especially not now when the stupid bond came up to the light.

The bond that could forever tear them apart.

The bond that could forever bind them together.

And there was no between – Mephisto said so himself.

Gulping, a bit fearfully Rin knew what choice he'd pick.

The real fear wasn't on his side, as he knew that he hopelessly somewhere in their exorcists adventures feel for his brother. Yes, he did.

He actually had a massive crush on Yukio at this point, and sometimes he needed to restrain himself from really pounding on his twin to fuck him senseless into floor – but he blamed his demon blood mixed with teenage hormones on that one.

But, what about Yukio? For the last few weeks he never showed a sign that maybe he'd reciprocate whatever Rin threw at him. There were _some moments_ but they were so fast, as if they didn't happen in the first place. You could throw into that bag also the fact that Yukio knew well enough information about bond they shared, to not to act on it – to surpass whatever he felt.

And it was wrong on society.

With a thump of his heart in his chest, Rin felt as if world started to shift from underneath his feet.

He was in the wrong, he was in too deep to care. Not that he ever cared what other people said, or did. Yet the fact that people would berate and hate on them if they ever got together – he didn't want to shame Yukio.

"Huh? What got yer pants in the twist? Ye look pale, have you eaten anything at all or you just figured yer gonna feed Yukio up?"

Shuddering, he twisted his hands together to laugh out awkwardly and scratch at his neck. "I might've missed breakfast today" he answered, blinking.

"Yer sure?" prodded Shura, her eyes narrowing at his face.

"Yeah— Nii-san, they want to speak with you."

Rin felt his breath caught in chest to whoosh out in an instant back. When the hell did Yukio come? On a whim he turned towards his brother to see him walking back, face blank and stoic.

Shura smiled widely. "So how did it go scaredy-cat? Got yer ass spanked much?"

Rin's ears twitched, eyes lit up. "What do ye mean they want to speak with me?" he cut in. "Am I going on a trial too? Is that a reason why I am here?!"

Yukio blinked. "No, I believe it's not the reason for them to speak with you. Besides you've been on a trial with Grigori already, nii-san."

Huh? "Haa—when?" he asked, he didn't remember having such thing!

Suddenly Yukio contemplated a memory, then nodded to himself. "Oh, right. You might not remember much of it... Or any of it. You've been held in Mephisto's crystal prison back then. But you'll remember destroying their previous location, as you along with Amaimon destroyed most of it."

Shura gargled under breath with laughter. "I remember!" she cackled. "Mephisto had a hard time getting you honeybirds out from that one!"

At that Yukio's tail tensed. "What do you mean by honeybirds?"

With a shrug she continued. "You two of course."

"But I haven't done anything that time!" argued Yukio, his tail snapping behind him.

"Well, yeah" she flashed smile at Yukio. "But Grigori still felt that you were partially responsible by destroying their locale" she than suddenly dropped her happy stance, and blinked confused. "Wait a sec... You meant you didn't know—?"

"Didn't know what?"

After few seconds she cackled almost manically. "So ye don't know! It's even better than I expected!"

"What they want from me then!" Rin snapped, his eyes boring into his twins and he saw as Yukio shuddered.

"I don't know, nii-san" Yukio answered him back. "Just go and be over with it."

Huffing, he snarled. "Just don't try anything funny while I'm gone!"

With a rough, heavy stomps he directed himself over to the long staircase that must've acted as hearing aisle. On his way he glanced back at Yukio as he was almost brutalized verbally by Shura but he didn't hear a sound.

Sighing, he looked at Mephisto that stood at the highest point, waiting for him.

Once he placed his feet next to the giant demon King, he gulped. On his way to the hearing he didn't realise how huge the row was – Supreme Advisors almost melting in-between the whiteness of the walls. Good thing that their seats where black otherwise he wouldn't know where to look.

"Rin Okumura" boomed voice, from wherever. "the oldest. Half-breed like your twin. We've met once before already."

He gulped as he put his trembling hands into pockets.

"For that one, as soon as you'll be promoted to be an official exorcist you'll pay it all out. We really don't enjoy changing the location of TCO" added second voice.

Wait? Did they just—?

"That's no matter to speak about now" hushed third voice and still silence followed by.

Until the first voice spoke again. "Rin Okumura, I hope you realise the dangers of your and your twins heritage or what that might cause.

For that purpose I asked Mephisto Pheles to bring you along with your brother today. Last time you weren't talkative enough to have a conversation."

At that Rin's face fell, was he really going to listen to this _gramps_?

"Since however you're concious, let's have a talk, shall we?"

He nodded numbly, not really knowing if he could answer.

"We're well informed about your brothers situation, as well as yours. Mephisto over there said that the Kurikara's spell was broken and hellfire is burning free within your body. I am more intrigued about your skills, as he also mentioned that you can bring it forth by power of will. Can you do it even now?"

The question was such a simpleton yet he hesitated, sparing a glance at Mephisto until the older demon half-nodded at him.

"Y—yes" he answered, his voice rugged. He cleared his throat. "Yes, I am able to do that now."

"Show us."

Now that stunned him and he twitched. Would he be able to do it right now? He just as well might've try. So he nodded silently, calming himself and reaching deep within himself for that flame that burned inside him. He smudged the border once, twice before he slipped beyond with ease which was surprising in itself – but maybe it shouldn't as they say practice makes perfect.

With his blue flames, red dimmed eyes, two flaming horns on his head and his tail swashing he kept still, looking at Sages. Yes, he heard gasps when he changed his form, was he ugly when he did that? He didn't know, never checked himself in the mirror – and subconsciously he remembered that one guy that tried to beat him up... Did he morph like he did every time?

Damn, now he needed a mirror.

"That's it" he said, waiting for a response.

"Good. Very good. Mephisto, you were right. And you, Rin, can stop it at whim?"

With a slow exhale, he let himself go back to normal and chuckled. "Yeah."

There was a hushed talking on the end of Grigori.

"The case of Yukio Okumura is very delicate" spoke after awhile third voice. "Possessed twice by Satan now he provides great danger to entire mankind. After long debate, us the Grigori, got to conclusion that he needs to be slain..."

"WHAT?!" he snarled, his fist clenching. "Don't you dare take him from me— you beard-wearing bastards!"

Mephisto shook his head, clucking his tongue in shame. "You're certainly not helping the matter, Okumura-kun. Hear what they have all to say before you go on your shitting spree, hmm?"

He didn't care about words Mephisto was spewing. _Slain_ reverted through his mind, over and over.

"They just said they will kill Yukio!"

"Rin" boomed first voice "Okumura. Is that the way to treat your guardian?"

"Guardian my ass" he snipped, breathing harshly.

Mephisto chuckled under breath. "I just might."

At that comment he cringed. "Have you heard that?!"

The voices muttered between themselves and then the third one continued. "As I said, we got to the conclusion that danger need to be slain however Mephisto Pheles plead to us to keep him alive – like he did with you, couple years back. After another debate, we agreed to hear him out. This is the main reason why we're all here.

Your twin will live, but he's going to be under constant observation.

You as the twin, are going to be his patron – upon which your brother agreed to already..."

"Yes!" he shouted, his tail wiggling but then he stopped, when he realised there was probably a _but_ in there, somewhere. "But?"

Advisor sighed, frustration seeping from his voice. "But it entails dealing with the danger itself if there such need occurred."

Silence swallowed them all.

Rin contemplated the last statement and the more he mulled it over he didn't like it... because it sounded as if they told him to...

"If another possession occurred, we need you Rin Okumura to destroy the core of it. It entails killing your brother. Will you be able to do it to save humanity?"

The world spun around and he found himself being drowned in the whiteness. So he had been right from the beginning, his gut was telling him to hide his face and run away as far as he could.

How could he kill Yukio?

Didn't they know that Yukio almost managed to kill _him_?

Mephisto haven't said a word about that?

He gulped, as he realised that his brothers life was lying at his own two feet. He could say no and crush it or say yes and help him for as long as he could. Yukio already agreed, probably heard the same deal too.

With a sigh of resignation, he nodded. "I agree" he mumbled.

"Will you Rin Okumura kill Yukio Okumura if the possession occurred again?"

Were they asking him a tricky questions or something? He just said that he would, but if he could...

"Yes" he repeated himself. "If my brother ever again became possessed I will take care of it."

Voices mumbled.

"Are you sure?"

This time he couldn't help himself, as he raved a bit. "I already said I agree. I'd do everything to keep him alive. He's the bloody only thing on the world I'd not give up over. If he happened to become possessed and the situation would be bad than... I guess... I'd do it. I'd kill him, to ease his pain."

Grigori nodded.

"So it's agreed upon. You might go now, ask Shura Kirigakure to come next."

With a curt nod, he turned around and wanted to step down but sudden hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Okumura-kun" said Mephisto, giving him a slight pat, "it's all right. Last time it was Yukio in this situation."

Breathing through parted lips, he rounded at Mephisto, eyes wider than usual. "You mean that—?"

Mephisto smirked. "It worked like charm back then, why not now? You trust Yukio, right?"

He gulped, blinking. He wasn't entirely sure and that was kinda scary thought. "Sure. I— I do."

Mephisto narrowed his eyes. "You hesitated."

"Well, I'm just a human aren't I? I have no idea what sits in that head of Yukio's."

This time a bold chuckle and a push got him walking down.

"Tell Shura to come over here, don't forget!"

With a frown he waved away the prompt, walking down the stairs. He felt heavy and light at the same time and he didn't like the feeling. Sure, Yukio was going free and alive but the thought of him killing his twin didn't sat right with him.

How do they expect him to do such thing if—?

_Last time it was Yukio in this situation._

Last time—Jesus. Yukio was fifteen back then wasn't he? He can't get his head around it and he's older than his brother was back then. Crap, their lives really are shitty, aren't they?

"—and then he caved in, like literally. He almost torn Bon-kun's bleached hair out! It was so funny, shame ye missed it scaredy!"

"I always knew your taste of humour was dire but to that point—"

Shura waved the comment off, pouting. "Yer just as uptight as always, one of these days someone should take that stick outta yer ass."

"Crude."

"Yer simply no fun at all."

Rin sighed, hearing freelanced chat – at least some things will never change. Especially between those two, he was going to keep sure of that.

"It's just because your sense of humour is wrong and twisted. I always keep repeating that you should set can aside and try drinking something healthier, all that alcohol got into your head."

Shura clacked her tongue. "It's so cute that you worry about me."

"I don't. I'm just stating the facts."

"Yer literally the worst person to have fun with. You're just ' _nii-san this_ ' and ' _nii-san that_ ' all the time now. Why don't you stop worrying for a second and actually enjoy yourself. You can't live forever life of your twins, or you'll end up old and alone."

He slowed on his march, listening more closely now. He shouldn't but somehow he dreaded what Yukio's answer was. There was a lot of truth in Shura's statement as well, not that he wanted to accept it, he enjoyed his brother way too much.

There was clear tension in his twins back.

"I wonder..." he answered deliberately slowly. "If you're warning me to not become you. Well, don't worry, I won't. I hate alcohol too much to end up so poorly."

Shura huffed, irritated. "What insensitive asshole."

Yukio shrugged nonchalantly. "It wasn't me who started it."

Yeah, definitely wasn't going to change.

At least he had one worry less in that head of his.

"Yo!" he shouted, smiling blankly. "Shura-san they want you up there."

Shura groaned and then smacked her lips lazily. "Damn, again. What this time?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, go and check."

"Yeah, yeah... I'll see you soon enough as it is" she said, turning around and walking with her specific sway. "Scaredy eat your greens so you can be strong again and you Rin keep him up to it, or I'll know you didn't" she threw over her shoulder, slowly walking away.

Yukio grumbled under breath.

"Damn, she _missed_ you" he stated, clearly confused himself. "Never would've say she's the person that actually can get attached to anybody and still..."

"Don't mention it, nii-san. I think she told me everything that happened with you and Bon-kun while I was gone."

Rin cringed lightly but kept on smiling. "Eh—heh. Sorry, 'bout that."

Yukio sighed, pulling on sweater's sleeve. "Not your fault. We all know that you have some bad temper."

"I do not" he shot back instantly, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, you do. Even before Grigori themselves. Really nii-san? Before three Supreme Advisors? We've seen what you've done over there, you lost temper."

"It was because they told me to—!" he shut his mouth, sulking. That talk was too fresh to remember. "They put ultimatum on you" he added, sighing.

Yukio seemed unimpressed. "Of course they did. It would be stupid thing not to do. I am Satan's vessel, nii-san."

"But they told me to kill you!" he snapped, anger melting with thudding pain in his chest.

Yukio nodded. "So they told me to do the same about you couple years back" he answered honestly, crossing his arms and looking towards Shura and Mephisto. "You didn't know about it, I never told you."

"Mephisto told me" he barked, huffing. "Just after beard-wearers asked me to agree to deal."

"Beard-wearers?"

"Three gramps?"

"Oh."

"Anyway, how could I not agree to it?" he asked, after awhile. "It was no deal at all. Either leave you to die or let you live until you'll be possessed again... That was one huge load of stinking bullcrap if you ask me."

"But you agreed to it anyway, no?"

"I didn't have a choice" he answered honestly, turning to watch Shura and Mephisto as they argued ( _well Shura was for certain_ ). "I wonder what they're shouting for?"

Yukio pouted, once again pulling on the sleeve and he caught him at it again in a timespan of just few minutes.

"Would you mind stop pulling on the sleeves, otherwise they're gonna come off" he grumbled.

With content silence between them after few, long seconds something occurred to Rin and he snapped into action. He grabbed Yukio at his upper arms and stood before him.

Then he promptly cried upon the realization that Yukio already grew an inch.

It looked like his times of being the taller twin were coming to an end and quickly, already.


End file.
